WINDHOEK: The Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF), through it is lawyers, Kadhila Amoomo Legal Practitioners, has asked the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) to set aside a decision taken to deregister NEFF as a political party pending Electoral Court review.
According to Amoomo, in a letter addressed to ECN Chief Electoral and Referenda Officer, Peter Shaama, on Tuesday, the decision to deregister their client is premature, as the Commission has not yet exercised the powers contemplated in terms of section 140(6) of the Electoral Act 05 of 2014.
He further stated that it was unfair, on the basis that the Commission has not provided an opportunity for NEFF to be heard and the decision is unreasonable and irrational, in view of the circumstances under which the decision was taken.
The ECN on 17 June 2024 issued a letter of cancellation to NEFF as a political party, after they reportedly failed to lodge audited financial statements for 2022/23 and publications of 2020/21 and 2021/22’s abridged vers
ions of audited financial statements in two daily newspapers circulating throughout Namibia.
However, Amoomo indicated that the Commission does not have any powers to deregister a political party in the event of failure to lodge its audited accounts with the Commission.
‘NEFF has until 30th June 2024 to comply in terms of Section 158. The conduct of the Electoral Commission of Namibia does not inspire confidence in this regard,’ he said.
He added that it is against this background that they are instructed to demand, as they do, that ECN provide them with an undertaking that the decision will not be implemented pending its review in the Electoral Court of Namibia.
The ECN has been given until 27 June to respond to the NEFF.
ECN has also deregistered the Christian Democratic Voice (CDV).
Source: The Namibia Press Agency