A number of top South African legal minds are helping some Namibian political parties challenge the results of that country’s election held last year.
The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) and the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) have gone to court to challenge the results of the November poll, claiming that voting times were extended unlawfully in certain regions. However, the government and the electoral commission claim that President Nangolo Mbumba had been within his rights to do so.
The main argument made by the opposition is that it was unlawful to only extend voting hours in certain areas and that the President did not have that power.
The IPC is being represented by South Africa’s Anton Katz, while fellow South African Kameel Premhid is acting for the LPM.
In the November poll the governing Swapo Party, which has ruled since independence from South Africa in 1989, won 53.4% of the vote, with the IPC winning 20.2%, and the LPM managing just over 5%. In all, 13 parties won enough support to be represented in the country’s parliament.
In the parallel presidential election the Swapo candidate, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, won 58.1%, making her the first woman president of Namibia.