Part 7 of the Electoral Act deals with what happens if there is a dispute about the election results. Court applications disputing the result of an election should be made within 30 days of the announcement of the result of the election in question. The applicant also has to pay an amount as security for future costs that the applicant may become liable for.
An election application can be presented to the court by a voter, a political party, candidates or the Attorney General.
Election applications must be heard in open court and should be decided on within 60 days from the date of the presentation of the application to the registrar of the court or within a longer period if special circumstances apply.
The court can only set aside the result of an election if any irregularity or illegal practice is deemed to have affected the result of the election. In other words, mistakes that did not affect the final result would not be enough to have a result nullified.
If the court states in a report on an election application that any person has been guilty of a corrupt and illegal practice or that there is reason to believe that corrupt and illegal practices have extensively prevailed at the election the information should be sent by the registrar of the court to the Prosecutor-General, with a view to prosecution.
The Electoral Act does not deal with the issue of what happens if a court case dealing with an election application continues after the five-year terms of office for the President and National Assembly members are finished.
Election Watch is a project of the Institute for Public Policy Research in Windhoek, Namibia.