By 
NAMIBIA – Namibia’s top opposition Presidential candidate, Panduleni Itula, said Saturday that his party would not recognise the results of a controversially extended election marred by chaos and allegations of foul play.
Speaking just before the close of polls on the final day of voting, Itula, whose Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) was hoping to end 34 years of rule by the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO), said that no matter the result, “the IPC shall not recognise the outcome of that election.”
“The rule of law has been grossly violated, and we cannot call these elections by any means or measure as free, fair and legitimate,” said Itula, who finished second in the 2019 vote.
According to VoA, with just 10 of the country’s 121 constituencies counted, partial results showed SWAPO’s candidate, Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, leading with 48 percent of the vote, followed by Itula with 29 percent.
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Electoral authorities decided to prolong voting in the presidential and legislative polls, after the original election day — Wednesday — was marred by logistical and technical failures that led to hours-long queues, which some voters eventually abandoned.
Opposition parties have complained about the chaos and alleged voter suppression by the authorities in the face of a strong turnout for the ruling party’s rivals.
An organisation of southern African human rights lawyers serving as election monitors said that the delays at the ballot box were intentional and widespread.
“There were deliberate delays of voting processes in more than 63 percent of the total polling stations across the country,” the lawyers said in a report.
Itula said that the IPC would “fight… to nullify the elections through the processes that are established within our electoral process,” calling on Namibia’s President Nangolo Mbumba to call a cabinet meeting “to determine exactly what should be done.”
On Saturday, hundreds of people queued up at the sole polling station in the capital Windhoek, where some 2,500 voters had cast their ballots Friday.
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