ECN Prepares for Legal Battle

Jo-MarÉ Duddy

29 April 2011

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has “absolutely no guarantee” that it won’t land up in court again after an election and therefore needs N$980 000 for legal challenges this year, Loide Kasingo, deputy speaker of the National Assembly, said yesterday.

Motivating the ECN budget in Parliament, Kasingo said legal actions following electoral disputes “are commonplace and a fresh election or recount of votes may be the result of such legal actions”.

Kasingo also asked for N$41,3 million for the 2011-12 financial year so that the ECN can buy electronic voting machines (EVMs) and registration kits to speed up the registration process and make the voters’ roll more accurate.

“The commission is confident that the introduction of an electronic system of voters’ registration will go a long way in perfecting the voters’ register, which is always a contentious issue before every election and often the reason for court cases,” Kasingo said.

In total, the ECN budgeted for N$112,9 million this year. Of this, N$23 million is needed to run the administration of the ECN, while N$24 million will go towards voter education.

About N$8,5 million is earmarked for supplementary registration.

“It is evident from the supplementary voters’ registration conducted prior to the last elections that many eligible Namibians still remained unregistered as voters for several reasons e.g. lack of relevant documentation and access,” Kasingo said.

In addition, the ECN needs N$1,2 million for the “cleaning and verification” of the voters’ register.

Kasingo said this is a priority for the ECN, as “the voters’ register is at the heart of each and every election”.

Furthermore, the ECN has set aside N$1,9 million for continuous registration.

Kasingo said N$436 000 is necessary to allow the ECN to “continue to review and improve the electoral law”.

Also, N$559 000 will be used for mock elections, while N$940 000 will be invested in the computerisation of logistics which will allow the ECN to keep track of election material.

Kasingo also asked for N$4,2 million for by-elections. This money will furthermore be used to ensure that the voters’ registers are clean of ghost voters by removing the deceased, she said.

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