Statement from opposition parties
Opposition parties say they will appeal against the High Court's judgement dismissing their case in a statement released on March 7 2010.
Judge President Petrus Damaseb's judgement in the opposition vs. ECN case
You can read Judge President Damaseb's judgement here
Judge Collins Parker's judgement in the opposition vs. ECN case
You can read Judge Parker's judgement here.
Opposition application dismissed on technicalities
Both Judges Damaseb and Parker found technical issues to rule the opposition's application inadmissible. Essentially the opposition's lawyers didn't follow proper procedures on filing applications - coming 90 minutes after the deadline and then seeking to amplify points in the original submission later and in a manner not deemed acceptable. They also did not attempt to explain their failures to follow procedure by seeking the 'condonation' of the court.
Opposition loses election challenge case
The opposition's attempt to have the High Court order a new ballot or at least a recount of the November presidential and National Assembly votes was effectively thrown out of court today (March 4). Judge President Petrus Damaseb and Judge Collins Parker struck the case off the roll of the court and ordered the applicants (the opposition) to pay the costs of the respondents (the Electoral Commission of Namibia and Swapo).
The issues at stake
These are some of the crucial issues likely to be weighed by the court when assessing the merits of the opposition election application:
Ballot boxing stuffing
What the local observers said
Extracts from the preliminary statement of the Joint NANGOF Trust and SADC-CNGO Observer Mission in respect of the 2009 Namibian Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
The tendered vote controversy, again
The tendered vote once again raised questions following the 2009 Presidential and National Assembly elections on November 27 and 28.
Tendered ballots have long been a source of some controversy in Namibian elections and one of the international observer missions, following the elections of November, went as far as calling for a “review” of the use of tendered votes in such important elections.
The lessons not learnt
A sense of palpable deja vu must be shadowing Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) corridors in the tumultuous wake of last November's Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Opposition win case
The High Court on Thursday ruled in favour of nine opposition parties who had sought access to election materials so that they could conduct an independent audit of November's Presidential and National Assembly elections results.

Election Watch is a project of the Institute for Public Policy Research in Windhoek, Namibia.