Elections Blog - Namibia voted on November 27 and 28

These are the rallies that the IPPR has received notice of. If you know of more confirmed meetings/rallies please send details to info@ippr.org.na.

COD
14 November 2009, Katima Mulilo
21 November 2009, Windhoek

RDP
14 November 2009, Windhoek. Speaker: Steve Bezuidenhoudt
14 November 2009, Rundu. Speaker: Kandy Nehova
14 November 2009, Ondangwa. Speaker: Jesaya Nyamu
14 November 2009, Gobabis. Speaker: Rudolph Kamburona
14 November 2009, Otjiwarongo. Speaker: Hidipo Hamutenya
14 November 2009, Okakarara. Speaker: Olga Kamuroua

The IPPR has been monitoring the coverage of the parties on NBC television news and One Africa television news over the past week. These are the results for the week from October 30 to November 5 for election-related coverage of the parties on NBC TV:

Swapo 82%
Swanu 4%
DTA 4%
APP 4%
RP 4%
Nudo 2%

The Deputy Director of Operations of the Electoral Commission, Theo Mujoro, said that there are 997 fixed polling stations together with 2 213 mobile polling stations bringing a total number of polling stations to an exact figure of 3 210 that will require a total number of teams amounting to 1 530 to conduct the polling. - Republikein, November 3 2009

That's a huge number of mobile polling stations - good for reaching remoter areas, but it does mean that there will be a lot of ballot papers on the move over a period of two days - difficult for observers and party agents to monitor.

The only answer I can think of to the conundrum below is that any party that now broadcasts on the NBC is paying for that slot. Would be interesting to know how much a five-minute broadcast costs these days.

If the free airtime offer for parties was withdrawn after Friday's court case why was the Minister of Finance giving a party political broadcaster after the TV news last night. Or have I missed something?

The SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections says member states should ensure "equal opportunity for all political parties to access the state media" (2.1.5).
The African Charters on Democracy, Elections and Governance states that state parties must "ensure fair and equitable access by contesting parties and
candidates to state controlled media during elections" (Chapter 7, Article 17).
Since the SADC Principles and the African Charter have been adopted by the Naitonal Assembly, they are part of Namibian law.

The issue of election violence and intimidation is one that has to be tackled unequivocally in the light of the Constitution and the Code of Conduct for political parties. During the last year, there has clearly been violence and intimidation targeted mostly at one party - the RDP. After a lull between March and September, the incidents appear to be picking up again. They clearly have the potential to derail the election in terms of freeness and fairness if the violence and intimidation becomes systematic. I was quoted in the Windhoek Observer on the issue on Saturday.

Television coverage: How biased is television coverage of this election?