SWAPO's amended constitution comes into operation from today. The party has held a virtual extra-ordinary congress on 5 September. The aim of the congress was to amend Article 6 of the SWAPO Party Constitution which deals with the termination and expulsion of individual membership. The article provided that membership of the party may be terminated or lost through voluntary resignation and expulsion as per the terms of the constitution. The congress amended the article by inserting a new provision through which membership may be lost once a member is registered or seeks or attempts to register as an independent or an association for presidential, regional or local authority or any other election for which such a member is not elected or endorsed by the relevant structure of the party. The extraordinary congress, therefore, informed members, supporters and sympathisers that any member who contravenes the provisions of the amended constitution automatically losses their membership of SWAPO.