Phil ya Nangoloh of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) writes:
On the morning of September 30 2009, as part of my routine desk monitoring exercise and while I was scouring over print media headlines for any reports of human rights violations, I received three phone calls.
One call came from a political party activist and the other two came from prominent civil society actors in the country. All the callers expressed concern about the “propagandistic and extreme bias implicit” in a frontpage article in the pro-Swapo Party and State-funded New Era newspaper on that material date.
I strongly hold that the IPPR predictions constitute fear-mongering and or undue influence as contemplated under Sections 103, 104 and 105 of the Electoral Act 1992 (Act 24 of 1992), as amended.
The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has a very critical responsibility towards ensuring that the elections are free, fair, transparent and credible. Hence, my strong recommendation is that ECN-relying on provisions of Sections 103, 104 and 105 of the Electoral Act 1992 (Act 24 of 1992) should impose a ban on the publication of any further public opinion polls and/or predictions until shortly after voting had been completed.
