Revision and reform of an electoral act in a democratic environment - the Namibian case

Abstract

Namibia is revising and reforming its Electoral Act (Act No 24 of 1992). In this undertaking stakeholders were consulted and public meetings were held throughout the country. In the subsequent report (2012) there were 59 recommendations of ways in which the Electoral Act could be improved. Electoral revision implies re-examining the Electoral Act within the context of democracy. The aim is to discover and rectify errors and shortcomings. Since electoral revision achieves reform, the two concepts are intertwined, with the intention of both being to strengthen the qualities of an Electoral Act. In this process, apart from efficiency, public desires and expectations must be attended to. In addition to the administrative and managerial task of running elections attention must be paid to the normative character of an electoral process, which is substantially determined by electoral justice. A number of principles are identified in relation to the character of electoral justice. These...