ECN deregisters dormant political parties

Placido Hilukilwa

THE Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has announced the deregistration of three political parties that have been dormant for at least two decades. The affected parties include the Democratic Coalition of Namibia (DCN), the Federal Convention of Namibia (FCN), and the Namibia Democratic Movement for Change (Namibia-DMC).

The FCN and the DCN (formerly known as NPF) were among the seven political parties that were represented in the Constituent Assembly that drafted the Namibian constitution after the UN-supervised elections of 1989. With one seat each, the FCN was represented by the late Kephas Conradie, while the NPF/DCN was represented by the late Moses Katjiuongua.

According to a statement issued by Peter Shaama, the ECN’s chief electoral and referenda officer, the deregistered parties did not participate in elections or were not functioning as required by the Electoral Act. “The last time some of these parties participated in elections was in 2004,” said Shaama.

He pointed out that notices about the pending deregistration were published in the media, calling on authorized representatives of the affected parties to contact the ECN, to no avail. “None of the authorized representatives appearing on the ECN register of political parties and associations/organizations contacted the ECN, and neither were any changes communicated to the Commission. As a result, the Commission took a decision to deregister these specific political parties as provided for by the Electoral Act,” he said.