The Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) has joined other political parties in condemning the Electoral Commission of Namibia's (ECN) decision to appoint a company that would be entrusted to print ballot papers for the November national elections.
RDP's President Mike Kavekotora criticised the ECN, stating that the elections were not a surprise to warrant the cancellation of the bidding process as it was gazetted well in advance.
He said the electoral body had ample time and was fully aware of the timeline.
Kavekotora added that the party is consulting its legal team to explore options to address the matter.
"We are shocked to hear that because ECN does not have a history of fairness. They have been running elections that have always been challenged. I remember in 2009 when RDP first participated in the first election, we ended up in court. We ended up in the High Court and eventually went to the Supreme Court. In 2019, a similar situation prevailed in our elections, where we ended up in the High Court challenging the outcome of the election. So from our perspective, we're not going to trust and we don't trust ECN to appoint a printing company."
In a related announcement, Kavekotora also announced the party's plans to launch its election manifesto in the Oshana Region this weekend.
The party's leadership also welcomed new members and expressed delight in receiving the group, acknowledging that they had a variety of political options but chose to affiliate with the RDP.
"These are Namibians who have been left out. And a few months ago, we started having discussions with them. And I agree with Mr. Mbinge here to say that every Namibian will have to exercise their democratic right to vote. Now, for you to vote, you need to vote for a political party that has been duly registered with the ECN. We're not only going to have this relationship for this upcoming election. We're going to build a stronger relationship with them so that we can address issues on a common platform."
Speaking on behalf of the group, Uakarenda Mbinge noted that the 30 members who went to meet Kavekotora at Parliament were only representatives of a much larger group poised to join the RDP.