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The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has started assessing Namibia’s preparedness to host elections on November 27.

The Southern African Election Observer Mission (SEOM), headed by Zimbabwean Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, launched the mission at the invitation of the Electoral Commission of Namibia, days before the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

The delegation which will observe the elections consists of a total of 53 personnel from eight SADC member states, namely; Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

They will be deployed to all 14 regions of the country to focus on the pre- and post-election periods which includes the campaigns, the voting day activities and the process of the counting of the ballot papers.

The observers will assess the conduct of the November 27 elections in line with the Namibian laws and provisions of the revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections (2015).

The mission will further render a more considered assessment of these preparations and preliminary voting processes in its preliminary and final statements and issue the preliminary statement on November 29 at the Windhoek Country Club, followed by a final statement 30 days after the end of the electoral cycle.

Speaking at the official launch of the its mission in Windhoek this week, Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri encouraged all stakeholders to ensure that these elections are conducted in a peaceful, free, fair, transparent and credible manner.

“As SADC, we look forward to an electoral process that adheres to democratic values and principles envisioned in our SADC Treaty, the Protocol of Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation; and the revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections (2015),” Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri said. — Namibia Economist.