WINDHOEK: A team from the SADC Electoral Advisory Council (SEAC) is currently in Namibia on a pre-election mission to assess the country’s readiness to hold the general elections later this year.

Leonard Sesa, who represents Botswana in the council, told Nampa on Monday that they are in the country for a duration of two weeks to engage with different electoral stakeholders.

‘Our main task is to meet different electoral stakeholders to get the real gist whether the electoral commission is ready to conduct the upcoming general elections. And of course we are talking about November, November, give us two weeks, we will be able to tell whether the electoral stakeholders are all ready for the upcoming general elections,’ Sesa said.

He said the council will assess Namibia’s readiness according to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) standards for democratic elections.

‘Namibia is part of SADC and Namibia has signed the SADC guidelines. They know what that is when we are saying the Member State is r
eady. So we will be here to check if what we have signed for is in order. The standards are a list…have you guys gone for registration, were you guys free and were there no intimidations. This pre-mission is for us to get the essence of [how] Namibia fared in conjunction with preparing for elections,’ he said.

The SEAC team will be meeting with various stakeholders, including the Electoral Commission of Namibia, political parties, government officials, people living with disabilities, and the media.

The team held their first meeting on Monday with officials at the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation.

Ambassador Jerobeam Shaanika, the Deputy Executive Director and Head of Multilateral Relations and Cooperation, assured the delegation of Namibia’s commitment to democratic governance.

‘Our government remains committed to uphold the principles and guidelines governing the conduct of elections in SADC. We therefore express our wish for the success of the mission, and request that the delegation
engages as many stakeholders as possible, so that your report can reflect the reality on the ground,’ Shaanika said while welcoming the SEAC group.

After completing their mission, the SEAC team is expected to report back to all SADC Member States on whether Namibia is prepared to hold the Presidential and National Assembly Elections on 27 November 2024.

Source: The Namibia News Agency