Fri, 18 Dec 2009
Windhoek - A legal challenge by 10 Namibian opposition parties to the results of last month's elections was postponed Friday in the High Court of the south-west African country to give the state more time to prepare its defense. The parties earlier this week asked the court to order a full audit of the results of the November 27-28 presidential and parliamentary election, which the ruling party of 19 years, SWAPO, won by a landslide.
The opposition believes the elections were rigged.
Judge Collins Parker postponed the case until Tuesday, under mutual agreement between the opposition and the state.
The opposition parties seeking a complete review of the votes from polling stations and the final results to be able to prove their claim of irregularities in the vote count and voters roll.
Four different versions of the voters roll were made public by the Electoral Commission of Namibia in the run-up to the vote. The opposition also says more people voted in some places than were registered to vote.
"We jointly rejected the outcome of the recently held elections due to the discovery of very serious irregularities, which we felt could not be left unchallenged," the parties said.
The court challenge was "in the interest of our democracy and the people of Namibia," they said.
In the parliamentary election, which 14 parties contested, SWAPO fell just short of the three-quarters majority it had going into the vote, garnering 74 per cent.
SWAPO leader, President Hifikepunye Pohamba, also trounced his rivals in the presidential ballot, taking a little over 76 per cent.
Despite rising corruption and stubbornly high poverty in the country of around 2 million people, the former guerrilla movement SWAPO is still popular among voters for having won the country's independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990 and for having assured two decades of peace and stability.
Windhoek - A legal challenge by 10 Namibian opposition parties to the results of last month's elections was postponed Friday in the High Court of the south-west African country to give the state more time to prepare its defense. The parties earlier this week asked the court to order a full audit of the results of the November 27-28 presidential and parliamentary election, which the ruling party of 19 years, SWAPO, won by a landslide.
The opposition believes the elections were rigged.
Judge Collins Parker postponed the case until Tuesday, under mutual agreement between the opposition and the state.
The opposition parties seeking a complete review of the votes from polling stations and the final results to be able to prove their claim of irregularities in the vote count and voters roll.
Four different versions of the voters roll were made public by the Electoral Commission of Namibia in the run-up to the vote. The opposition also says more people voted in some places than were registered to vote.
"We jointly rejected the outcome of the recently held elections due to the discovery of very serious irregularities, which we felt could not be left unchallenged," the parties said.
The court challenge was "in the interest of our democracy and the people of Namibia," they said.
In the parliamentary election, which 14 parties contested, SWAPO fell just short of the three-quarters majority it had going into the vote, garnering 74 per cent.
SWAPO leader, President Hifikepunye Pohamba, also trounced his rivals in the presidential ballot, taking a little over 76 per cent.
Despite rising corruption and stubbornly high poverty in the country of around 2 million people, the former guerrilla movement SWAPO is still popular among voters for having won the country's independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990 and for having assured two decades of peace and stability.
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