Kuvee Kangueehi
7 October 2008
Windhoek — The Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) claims that their dismal performance in the Omuthiya local authority election last month is attributable to political intimidation, harassment, insults and threats to prevent RDP members and supporters from freely choosing a party of their choice.
The RDP scored less than 9% of the total votes, which translated into one seat out of the seven.
The new party's steering committee had a meeting last weekend to take stock and give analysis of events before, during and after the local authority election.
In a press release issued on Sunday, the RDP said the steering committee concluded that it was worth participating in the election despite enormous tasks of holding their first convention and with the national and presidential elections looming next year.
The party said their participation in the election has in fact broken the monolith of Swapo and has introduced the electorate to multi-party democracy and opposition party politics.
"The hot-headed Swapo storm troopers now have to contend with the presence of the RDP amongst them."
The RDP further claimed the community of Omuthiya was heavily intimidated through a stream of violence prior to the election. A number of provocative incidents were witnessed such as the calling of RDP leadership as Satans and Judas Iscariots, the "cutting-off tails" (sic) of RDP leaders and the killing of two citizens at a Swapo Party rally.
The party also accused the governor of the Oshikoto Region Penda ya Ndakolo of violating the electoral code of conduct by wearing an ECN T-shirt on the day of the election.
RDP says one of the purposes of wearing the T-shirt was to give credence to Swapo's story that they were monitoring how voters voted and this was a clear intimidation tactic by the governor.
The party believes that intimidation affected the way people voted and eventually influenced the results.
The party also claimed that they have raised the issue of continuous politically motivated intimidation and harassment, particularly in connection with Tobias Hainyeko constituency.
"We hope the authorities concerned to oversee free and fair elections will urgently act on our registered concerns."
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