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ADVERTORIAL

1. INTRODUCTION

The ECN would like to make use of this advertorial to dispel the distorted perceptions and misconceptions that are deliberately created and perpetuated by some leaders of political parties in the media to mislead the public and eligible voters that the electoral process is in jeopardy.

The strategy being employed is to try and cast doubt in the mind of the electorate that the process is not credible, fair and transparent and thereby to discredit the outcome of the Presidential and National Assembly Elections before Namibians have even voted in November. This is also to give credence and justifications to potential disputations of the results and to keep the nation hostage to individual personal interests and political ambitions. We believe that the following strategies are being used to cast doubt in the minds of the registrants and to discredit the election process as a whole:

1. The structure, role, authority and mandate of the ECN as a legal body mandated by law to conduct elections is deliberately being questioned and undermined and the platforms that we have cordially established to consult political stakeholders are deliberately transformed into a theatre for abusing the ECN, feeding of the media and public with misleading information and lack of sensitivity to the total electoral process in general

2. The Commissioners are being subjected to threats and unnecessary demands in terms of the time frame and decisions being prescribed to the ECN that are clearly abrogating the electoral body’s authority and judgement to allocate tender for the printing of ballot papers. The demands and threats by political parties constitute clear political interference in the day-to-day activities of the ECN.

3. Attempts to dispute preliminary figures captured and reported as such during the Supplementary Voter Registration and discrediting the preliminary voter register that is still subject to verification by members of the public and the very same political leaders that are trying to cast doubt on the process. This is also to create a false impression that the figures are being inflated in an attempt to tamper with the November Presidential and National Assembly Elections results. These are serious and irresponsible allegations that warrant a response from the Electoral body.

To dispel and counter the perpetual trumping of this distorted image, the Electoral Commission would like to use this advertorial to present the factual information to the voters and the public and in the process to explain its mandate as an electoral body and the way that the administrative staff and Commissioners are appointed.

2. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ECN, STRUCTURE AND MANDATE

The Electoral Commission of Namibia was established in 1992 by virtue of Section 3 of the Electoral Act of 1992 read in conjunction with Section 3 of the Electoral Act 30 of 1998. The Commission established is known as the Electoral Commission and is an agency of the Public Service Act 13 of 1995(Section 3(1)(c)) and they report to Parliament.

The Commission consists of five members appointed by the President by Proclamation in the Gazette(Section 1 of the Electoral Act 11 of 1999). The Commission holds their term of office for 5years(Section 3A of the Electoral Amendment Act 11 of 1999) and they may be reappointed through the same procedure at the end of their term ( Electoral Act 1992, Section 7 and the Electoral Amendment Act 1999 Section 2)

The following procedure must be followed for the appointment of the Commissioners:

(1) The Director (who is the head of the Directorate) invites applications for the appointment to the Commission by notice in the Gazette and two daily newspapers with a national circulation.

(2) A Selection Committee is assembled. Its members must include one staff member of the Supreme Court or of the High Court nominated by the Chief Justice, one lawyer nominated by the law Society of Namibia, one person from the staff of the Ombudsman nominated by the Ombudsman.

(3) The Supreme Court Staff member serves as chairperson of the Selection Committee and the lawyer as the Deputy Chairperson. The Committee is appointed for one year.

(4) The Director convenes a meeting of the Selection Committee, which selects from the applicants between ten and twenty candidates for interview. If there are less than ten applications the Director may invite any person to apply.

(5) The interviews are held at a meeting of the selection Committee, which must be open to the public. The Director must publicize the interviews and details of the applications in the Gazette before the meeting.

(6) Qualifications and criteria for the appointment to the Commission are subject to determination by the Standing Committee on Privileges of Parliament.

(7) Registered voters may submit written objections to any application and may be called to the meeting to answer questions.

(8) Applicants who fail to attend the meeting, or who answer questions untruthfully, are disqualified.

(9) Within ten days of the interviews, the Selection Committee must recommend eight applicants to the President who chooses five of them.

(10) If the Director fails to follow the proper procedure for convening the interviews the President may appoint the Commission on the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Privileges of Parliament.

3. VOTER REGISTER

As the ECN stated in all our press statements, the figures that we have announced for both Supplementary Voter Registration and Voters Register are results that we have captured and are subject to verifications. The press release by the DTA in which that party is clearly questioning the integrity, reliability and validity of the figures is clearly mistimed and misplaced because the verification process is continuing and the DTA is also party to that verification process. Statistics can never be 100% accurate, but similarly it is not appropriate for a political party to propagate claims to the effect that Namibia’s voter register does not exist. This is tantamount to denigrating the integrity and intelligence of those conducting the electoral process.

Furthermore, I would like to state in clear terminology for the benefit of the DTA leaders that the results that we reported for Supplementary Voter Registration is the actual data that we have captured from eligible voters at our registration points throughout the country. These data as we have consistently pointed out are subject to verification and we do not see any point responding to clearly politicized statements coming from political parties that are campaigning for votes by all non-conventional means they deem necessary.

In the same press release that was meant to question the reliability co-efficiency of our data, the party went on rampage and decided to associate the ECN with one of the parties contesting elections. We found such behaviours and attitudes from a supposedly mature party like the DTA completely unacceptable, arrogant and irresponsible. We found it completely unethical, uncivil and morally objectionable to insult and judge the character of the Director of ECN despite the cordial relationship that he has been trying to promote between political parties and the ECN. We will continue to carry out our mandate in a fair, transparent and professional manner despite these unnecessary attempts to assassinate the character of the Director of Elections. The Electoral Commission of Namibia is happy to explain to the people of Namibia that the process of registration had three components.

a) People who register either for the first time in their lives or those who did not register after 2003. This group is called New Registrations.

b) People who were registered before and have for one reason or another lost their voters cards. This category is called Registration for Duplicates. Their duplicates are discarded from the roll.

c) People who have or have not lost their cards but who have changed addresses by virtue of moving from one constituency to another. This is registration resulting from change of address. The first registration has to be discarded. We call it discarding because in as much as the entry is eliminated from the roll, it is kept safe and as such all transactions on the Namibian Voters roll are clearly traceable.

ECN clarifies that the more than 290,000 figure that came from the registration exercise excluding the totals from the Erongo Region during the period 27-30 September. As a result hereof the total figure came to 306,482 not broken down in terms of new registrations, duplicates or change of addresses.

ECN further points out that because some registrants were looking for duplicates, others re-registering because of change in abode, making an erroneous conclusion that all the people were going to vote is not only fallacious, to say the least, but apparently aimed at deliberately putting the name of the electoral umpire in Namibia – ECN – into disrepute. Everybody who has participated in any registration knows very well – and will not be fooled in believing the attempt by the DTA of Namibia to mislead as far as the process is concerned. Duplicates would have to be eliminated as they appear in various forms.

It is very unfortunate that the DTA mentions the e-mailed figures and decides to be economical with the truth in the sense that the e-mailed figures for both Erongo and Kavango Regions are clearly broken down in terms of the classifications of new registrations, duplicates and change of address. Yet the DTA decided to be silent about this fact.

4. TENDERS FOR BALLOT PAPERS

The Act in Section 74 (which Section has been amended in two occasions the last occasion being by Section 12 of Act 30 of 1998) requires the Electoral Commission to provide returning officers with amongst others ballot papers for the purposes of conducting an election.

In 1998 the Electoral Commission of Namibia resolved that the printing of ballot papers be done locally in Namibia. The decision as to who will print the ballot papers is taken after companies are invited to submit quotes for the printing of the ballot papers. Once the tenders have been received, they are opened and evaluated in the presence of the Tender Board officials where a decision is taken to award the job to the successful tenderer.

It may also be appropriate to observe that the Electoral Commission has put in place mechanism to ensure the transparency and security during the process of printing the ballot papers. The mechanisms that the Electoral Commission has put in place are as follows:

All participating political parties are:-

Ø allowed to be present when the printing company draws the paper on which the ballot papers will be printed;

Ø allowed to be present and witness the process of printing the ballot papers;

Ø allowed to be present and witness the packaging of the ballot papers;

Ø allowed to be present on a twenty four hour basis on the premises where the ballot papers are stored;

Ø allowed to be present and witness the delivery of the ballot papers by the printing company to the electoral Commission



Printing of the Ballot Papers for 2009 Elections

At a consultative meeting convened on Monday with political parties, one of the issues raised strongly by political parties was the fact that in terms of the Electoral Act the distinctive symbols of political parties registered with ECN shall appear on the Ballot Papers. The demand of the political parties registered with ECN to have their distinctive symbols appear on the ballot papers is supported by law.

Section 39(3)(f) reads: “The distinctive symbol of the political party may appear on the ballot paper referred to in paragraph (b), if the political party desires such symbol to so appear.” Section 40 (a) of the same Act also refers to a “distinctive symbol” which must be registered with the ECN.

It has become an established practice and convention over the course of the years for the ECN in consultation with political parties to print ballot papers in black and white for the purpose of being cost-effective.

The specifications of the tender as awarded to NAMPRINT do not require printing of the ballot papers in colour. The fact is that most political parties have registered their distinctive symbols with ECN in colour and have demanded in this election that they appear on the ballot paper in that form. Hence, the ECN considered the request by the political parties and although the implementation thereof will carry increased financial implications. Consequently the ECN decided to withdraw the awarding of the tender to NAMPRINT. Another tender will be called in compliance with tender procedures in terms of the Tender Act.