Affirmative Repositioning (AR) party leader Job Amupanda has proposed the harmonisation of the Presidential and National Assembly elections and the Regional Councils and Local Authorities elections to reduce costs and increase voter turnout.

He made the proposal during the tabling of the Performance Assessment and Post-election Report for the Guinas Constituency in the National Assembly.

"In the actual report, the Electoral Commission of Namibia also agrees with the harmonisation of this election. What do you then do? So if we say we have adopted the report, what does it mean? Does it mean that we have agreed on the harmonisation of elections? Maybe yes, maybe no. What is the implication of it? What is the practical implication of it? It would be beneficial for us to have a thorough discussion on this matter. This is not just any other report that comes from this body called the Electoral Commission of Namibia."

On the Guinas by-election report, tabled by Swapo Party MP Paula Kooper, the AR leader pointed out that there were various issues that needed to be dealt with and suggested that the report be sent to the Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs.

The Committee needs to do a thorough assessment of the house to discuss the matter of harmonisation, based on their feedback as well as the post-election report.

Swapo Party MP Willem Amutenya also raised concerns about the low voter turnout of 47% compared to the 91% voter registration indicated in the report.

"The question is, why did so many register to vote but choose not to cast their ballots? Possibly, we need to look into that, and ECN needs to look into that. Is it because of the logistical barrier, or what is really the cause of the gaps? I express this concern because we are facing the regional and local authority elections in just two months, and I hope ECN has implemented measures to prevent this scenario from recurring."

The house agreed that the debate be postponed to the 30th of this month.