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Namibia: RDP Wants to Go to Court Over Omuthiya
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The Namibian (Windhoek)
24 April 2008
Posted to the web 24 April 2008
Christof Maletsky
Windhoek
THE Rally for Democracy and Progress is considering approaching the courts after the Electoral Commission of Namibia scrapped one of its candidates for the Omuthiya local authority election off the voters' roll.
The ECN announced on Tuesday that it had removed the name of Magnus Nangombe, one of RDP's seven candidates for the election of the first town Council of Omuthiya.
Nangombe's name was scrapped after Swapo objected to his presence.
The ruling party claimed he had missed the deadline for registration and was smuggled onto the voters' roll after supplementary registrations.
His presence on the voters' roll was one of the reasons why the Omuthiya election was called off at the last minute and postponed until further notice.
Swapo objected to the presence of Nangombe's name together with 11 others, while the RDP had pointed out that 54 names of people who did not live in the constituency were present on the voters' roll.
RDP interim leader Hidipo Hamutenya said they were just waiting for the ECN's pronouncement on the matter.
"They owe us an answer if they pull him out.
Failing to do that will end up in court.
We don't believe there is anything wrong with his candidacy.
It is just Swapo intimidation tactics and the ECN is being held hostage by Swapo," Hamutenya said.
Trouble with the Omuthiya election started when the preliminary voters' roll with 1 586 names got to Swapo before the official one with 1 587 names was released by the ECN for inspection.
Well-placed sources informed The Namibian that the voters' roll that Swapo used to lodge a complaint against the presence of Nangombe's name on the Omuthiya list was allegedly smuggled out of the ECN offices by party members who work there.
The sources claimed a list without Nangombe's name was given to the party before the voters' roll was finalised.
When the actual voters' roll - with 1 587 names - was made available at the local Police station for inspection, Swapo's Regional Co-ordinator for Oshikoto, Armas Amukwiyu, cried foul.
He claimed Nangombe's presence on the voters' roll was illegal, as he had not registered in time.
Director of Elections Phillemon Kanime said he did not know how Swapo had got hold of the first list but was sure that Nangombe had registered on time.
Another well-placed source suggested that the list had been "smuggled out" of the ECN offices.
Amukwiyu denied that Swapo had got its hands on the two lists by dubious means.He said Swapo would reveal the names of its sources "if the worst came to the worst".
Kanime and two others were subsequently suspended for an unspecified time.
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Six weeks after his suspension, Kanime's fate remains unclear as the ECN remains silent on any possible charges against him.
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