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Oor minder as ‘n maand tree Namibiërs by die stembus aan om nuwe plaaslike owerhede en streekraadslede te verkies.By ‘n onlangse Swapo-vergadering in Oshakati het Swapo se vise-president, me. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, gesê die politieke toneel in die land is “oorvol”. Sy het kiesers gemaan om nie verwar te word deur hierdie veelheid aan stemme nie.In Desember 2019 het pres. Hage Geingob in sy oorwinningsboodskap die demokrasie as meer dinamies as ooit bestempel. Sien Swapo nou die agteruitgang in sy ondersteuning anders?‘n Veelpartystelsel waarborg juis vryheid van keuse. Hoewel daar vanjaar kommerwekkend min vrouekandidate is, is daar groter mededinging as dalk ooit op hierdie kiesvlak. Net vier kiesafdelings is onbetwis terwyl 93 onafhanklike kandidate, 18 partye en 13 inwonersverenigings hul name in die hoed gegooi het.Fragmentering kan natuurlik nadelig vir demokrasie wees, maar genoeg daarvan kan ‘n dominante party skade berokken.Om aan elkeen van die honderde kandidate ‘n stem in gedrukte media of selfs aanlyn te gee, is feitlik onmoontlik. Hulle moet dié werwingswerk self verrig.Dit maak stemgeregtigdes se plig nog belangriker om hul opleeswerk en luisterwerk behoorlik te doen.‘n Tweepartystelsel het ook sy nadele, en koalisies kon om verskeie redes nog nie ‘n verskil maak nie.Kommer is reeds oor die registrasie van kiesers en die kiesersrol geopper. Hopelik gaan die terugkeer na stembriewe die kieskommissie nie bykomende hoofbrekens besorg en uitslae selfs langer as gewoonlik laat sloer nie. So sê ander1 November 2020The Observer view on the US electionThe US presidential election on Tuesday is the most momentous in recent modern history.It is a referendum on the personality and leadership of Donald Trump after four extraordinary, disgraceful years. It is a referendum, too, on the future of democracy in America.Also at issue is America’s future role in the world. Not since 1940 has the US been so isolated and out of step on the key issues of the day.The very idea that an American election, normally a grand, exemplary expression of the popular will, could be reduced to being about one man is, at some level, obscene.Four more years of Trump could prove fatal to US democracy and also to America’s place in the world. The president’s disdain for allies, his creeping and crawling to foreign dictators, his climate crisis denial and environmental hooliganism, his hostility to the UN and the WHO and his arrogant opposition to almost anything that smacks of sensible multilateral collaboration have greatly weakened US influence and leverage. Trump’s approach to China, the biggest challenger to US global leadership, has been wholly counterproductive.Biden would halt this slide into infamy and sleaze and attempt an American restoration.• THE OBSERVER

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