Opposition says "evidence" of election irregularities

The discovery last week of ballot papers dumped beside the road has given fresh impetus to the opposition's condemnation of Namibia's general election. A pile of 22 ballots, some of them half burnt, were found in Okahandja, north of the capital, Windhoek. The votes had all been cast in favour of opposition parties, and had an official stamp on the back page from the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN). Over 800,000 Namibians elected a successor to President Sam Nujoma and new candidates for the National Assembly last week. But opposition parties have questioned the high voter turnout and the counting process, which gave the ruling SWAPO party a landslide victory. "The ballots were found under a bridge just 60 km north of Windhoek, opposite a military base, where voting had also taken place," Nora Schimming-Chase, Congress of Democrats (CoD) vice-president told IRIN. "We are busy consulting with our lawyers because we now want the entire elections declared invalid," she said. Last week four opposition parties consulted lawyers to prepare a court order for a vote recount. "The discovery ... has changed the legal side of the matter," Schimming-Chase added. "Our suspicions have received new evidence, but this is very sad for democracy in Namibia." The ballots were found by a member of the Namibia United Democratic Organisation, who alerted party officials. The police cordoned off the area on Friday and launched an inquiry. "It will take a few days until we have completed the investigations," a police officer in Okahandja told IRIN. But the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has questioned the role of the police in the original disappearance of the ballots. "The police was entrusted with the security for the ballots papers and boxes during the elections," NSHR executive director, Phil ya Nangoloh, told IRIN. "But they are now the ones who are investigating the incident. I don't know how one can be the jury, the judge and the executioner at the same time." ECN director Philemon Kanime was quoted on Monday by a local newspaper, The Namibian, as saying the matter was under investigation, but the ballot papers might have "fallen off a truck or something". The elections, declared free and fair by the Africa Union and Southern African Development Community observer teams, gave SWAPO 75 percent of the vote while presidential candidate Hifikepunye Pohamba polled 76 percent.