EDITORIAL: Are independent candidates spoilers or saviours?
After a phenomenon inspired by Dr Panduleni Itula in 2019, 2024 is likely to birth even more independent presidential candidates.
Already, Ally Angula has put up her hand. Job Amupanda is on billboards telling us that he too will race, but perhaps on the Affirmative Repositioning movement’s ticket, if its stuttering registration process with the Electoral Commission of Namibia succeeds.
What is clear is that more horses – contenders and pretenders – will be in the mix. It is commendable that our laws allow for independent candidates because this gives the voters, who may be generally fed up with politicians, an option to vote for technocrats and non-conventional persons.
While some of those candidates may be legitimate contenders for the highest office in the land, others are in it to play the role of a spoiler.
Spoiler candidates can save the nation if they successfully stand in the way of bad persons being elected into office. But the flip side of the coin is that they can harm the general aspirations of the nation if their participation denies a good candidate a victory. That is the beauty and cost of democracy.
In Namibia, the winning candidate must attain at least 51% of the vote. The influx of independent candidates means more mouths nearing the cake for a bite. And with this, only the fittest will survive.
Already, Ally Angula has put up her hand. Job Amupanda is on billboards telling us that he too will race, but perhaps on the Affirmative Repositioning movement’s ticket, if its stuttering registration process with the Electoral Commission of Namibia succeeds.
What is clear is that more horses – contenders and pretenders – will be in the mix. It is commendable that our laws allow for independent candidates because this gives the voters, who may be generally fed up with politicians, an option to vote for technocrats and non-conventional persons.
While some of those candidates may be legitimate contenders for the highest office in the land, others are in it to play the role of a spoiler.
Spoiler candidates can save the nation if they successfully stand in the way of bad persons being elected into office. But the flip side of the coin is that they can harm the general aspirations of the nation if their participation denies a good candidate a victory. That is the beauty and cost of democracy.
In Namibia, the winning candidate must attain at least 51% of the vote. The influx of independent candidates means more mouths nearing the cake for a bite. And with this, only the fittest will survive.
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article