Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has appointed former Speaker of Tanzania’s Parliament Anne Semamba Makinda as the head of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM) for Namibia’s upcoming general elections.
The appointment aligns with the revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections (2021), which mandate regional organisation to observe all general elections in its 16 member states.
Namibia’s presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for November 27.
In a statement on Thursday, the Gaborone-based SADC Secretariat said SEOM observers have already begun arriving in Namibia, with pre-deployment training set for November 15-18 in Windhoek.
The mission will oversee the pre-election phase, polling day and post-election processes to ensure they adhere to SADC’s principles of free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections.
President Nangolo Mbumba, who took over following the death of former president Hage Geingob in February, is not contesting in the upcoming elections.
The ruling SWAPO party, which has been in power since independence in 1990, will be represented by Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who could become Namibia’s first female president if she wins the presidential race.
She, however, faces strong competition from former SWAPO stalwart Panduleni Itula who contested as an independent against Geingob in the last elections held in November 2019.
Itula founded the Independent Patriots for Change in 2020 after being expelled from SWAPO and will be hoping to perform better than in 2019 when he managed to snatch over 30 percent of the vote.
JN/APA