IMAGE: Namibia Fact Check
Speculation, commentary and criticism have followed the deregistration of political parties by the elections body. Here’s what the law says about this.
In June 2024 the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) announced the de-registration of three political parties. Two of the parties de-registered have representation in the Namibian National Assembly – the Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) and the Christian Democratic Voice (CDV).
The de-registration has stirred quite a bit of controversy on the political landscape, seeing as it comes just months out from the 27 November 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
What the law says
The ECN cites two sections of the Electoral Act of 2014 in justifying the de-registration of the political parties.
In a 27 June 2024 media release extensively addressing the de-registration issue, the ECN mentions the following sections for triggering the drastic move:
“The deregistration of the said political parties follows a thorough assessment of the compliance in terms of sections 140 and 158 of the Act respectively and a consequent finding of non-compliance by the said parties, which constitutes a contravention of the Electoral Act.”
So, what do these sections of the law actually deal with and what do they say?
Section 140 is titled ‘Records and audit of registered political parties’.
The following images are screenshots of the text of section 140 of the Electoral Act:
As for section 158, it is simply titled ‘Political parties to account for funds’.
The following images are screenshots of the text of section 158 of the Electoral Act:
In terms of the actual de-registration of the political parties, the ECN cites section 152 (f) and section 153 for enabling this.
Section 152 is titled ‘Cancellation of registration of registered political party or registered organisation’ and section 152 (f) states that a political party can be de-registered if:
Section 153 is titled ‘Deregistration of registered political party or registered organisation and removal of name from register‘, and states:
For more on the Electoral Act and its regulations, see this article we recently published: