The Landless People's Movement (LPM) has been excluded from contesting nine southern local authorities and several others nationwide due to alleged technical issues with the portal of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN).
The involved local authorities are in both the Hardap and ||Kharas regions, according to the ECN's local authorities election list.
The LPM is not listed at Aranos, Berseba, Bethanie, Gibeon, Rehoboth, Kalkrand, Lüderitz, Tses or Stampriet.
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In the Erongo region, the party will also not contest at Henties Bay, Arandis and Uis either.
This means the LPM will lose out a combined 21 seats from the localities it is not contesting in in the south.
Despite this, the party is participating at Mariental, Keetmanshoop, Karasburg, Koës, Aroab, Gochas, Oranjemund and Maltahöhe.
Out of 59 local authorities, the LPM is only contesting in 25, according to the commission's list.
Party leader Bernadus Swartbooi last week said the LPM could not submit the names of its candidates due to the ECN portal's technical glitches.
"We received certificates in some places, and they cut us out of 28 localities," he said.
Swartbooi said it is a serious issue, because the affected localities are mostly in the southern regions, which are governed by the LPM.
LPM operative secretary Dawid Eigub could not be reached for comment yesterday after the party said its lawyers were engaging the ECN on the matter.
Lüderitz Town Council's LPM councillor, Annemarie Hartzenberg, took to social media on Monday, saying the situation cannot simply be brushed aside as a "system issue".
"The LPM complied with the procedures, submitted both physical and digital documentation where required, and engaged with the ECN within the stipulated timelines, yet we are still being excluded.
"This is not just unfair, it undermines the constitutional right of citizens to choose their representatives," she said.
Hartzenberg said an election cannot be considered free, fair, or democratic if a legitimate political party is removed from the ballot through administrative failure or selective application of processes.
"We are not asking for special treatment, we are demanding equal and lawful treatment," she said.
The country, Hartzenberg said, deserves a transparent explanation, accountability, and the assurance that elections are not being influenced by systems that conveniently fail at critical moments and in favour of a certain political party.
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Political analyst Henning Melber says the matter casts more doubt on the ECN's impartiality if the complaints turn out to be true.
Responding to the ECN blocking the party from contesting at some local authorities, LPM deputy operative secretary Eneas Emvula yesterday said nothing would come of the matter.
He said true justice will not exist until a change of government, "which will unfortunately have to come at a cost".
"We will capitalise on what we will gain as part of building momentum for that inevitable change," Emvula said.
Meanwhile, during the LPM's recent press conference at Keetmanshoop, a member on Facebook said the ECN's actions are undemocratic, and the party would not "sit idle and watch".
"We will march to the ECN and close it down if we must," the party member said.
Another member said the party would mobilise the affected localities and petition the ECN's "unjust" actions.
The LPM gained five seats during last year's presidential and National Assembly elections.
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