WINDHOEK – It is all systems go for all the 13 registered political parties, including one last-minute entrant in the name of the Communist Party of Namibia, for the November polls.

The parties beat the deadline of 11h00 ( Monday) yesterday and submitted the names of their candidates to the Electoral Commission of Namibia on time. Yesterday was the deadline for parties to submit the names of both their Presidential and parliamentary candidates

With the exception of the All People’s Party (APP), Monitor Aksie Groep (MAG), DTA of Namibia and Swapo Party that submitted their Presidential and National Assembly lists last week, all the other parties rushed to the Master of the High Court Building, where ECN officials were waiting to receive submissions from the political groups.

Among the first to arrive were Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) President Hidipo Hamutenya alongside some of his top brass.

The party submitted both its National Assembly list and Presidential candidate shortly after 09h00 yesterday.

Joining the RDP was National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo), which submitted its National Assembly candidates yesterday, having submitted its Presidential candidate’s name some two weeks ago. South West Africa National Union (Swanu) and Democratic Party of Namibia (DPN) also submitted their candidates shortly after 09h00.

Parties arrived one by one and by 10h00 ECN was still awaiting on five parties, namely the Congress of Democrats (CoD), Republican Party (RP), United Democratic Front (UDF) National Democratic Party (NDP) and Namibia Democratic Movement for Change (Namibia DMC), who only arrived 45 minutes before the 11h00 deadline.

Some political party representatives that New Era spoke to could not hide their excitement about the elections. RP’s Henk Mudge said now that they had finished with the submissions, they would go out and implement a tactful approach on the party’s electioneering drive.

“We never underestimate the intelligence of the Namibian people to make the right choice, all we can say is that make us strong and we will make you stronger. We don’t want to promise anything that is our only promise to the Namibian people.”

UDF President Chief Justus Garoeb said his party would go all out to capture new territory while vowing to protect its stronghold, the Kunene Region.

“We will go an extra mile to protect our region,” said Garoeb, adding that the UDF will ensure that Swapo will not get a two-thirds majority.

MAG and the NDP have indicated that they will not field Presidential candidates and will contest parliamentary seats only.

After the expiry of yesterday’s deadline, ECN Chairperson, Victor Tonchi, announced that all political parties had submitted their documentations and they were all in order.

New Era