Rundu: A full bench consisting of Judges Thomas Masuku, Hannelie Prinsloo, and Lotta Ambuda on Monday set aside the Electoral Commission of Namibia’s (ECN) erroneous allocation of a seat to the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) in the Rundu Local Authority elections in the Electoral Court.

According to Namibia Press Agency, the commission’s spokesperson, De Wet Siluka, clarified in a statement that the commission identified a genuine material error after the initial seat allocations were announced on 29 November 2025. This error directly impacted the final distribution of representation on the seven-member council.

Based on a total of 12,560 votes cast, the calculated quota was 1,794 votes per seat. According to the certified results, the Swapo Party earned four seats with 7,148 votes, the Rundu Concerned Citizens’ Association (RCCA) secured one seat with 1,337 votes, and the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) Movement obtained one seat with 799 votes.

The dispute arose over the final seat on the council. While the Rundu Urban Community Association (RUCA) received 674 votes and the IPC received 642 votes, the returning officer mistakenly allocated the remaining seat to the IPC.

Under the correct procedure, RUCA should have received the allocation as the party with the next highest number of votes.

Following a meeting on 02 December 2025, to update the affected political parties, the ECN confirmed it was functus officio-meaning it no longer had the administrative jurisdiction to reverse its own decision once it had been finalised by an appointed official. Consequently, the commission turned to the Electoral Court to seek a judicial remedy under Section 168 of the Electoral Act. The court granted the commission’s request to nullify the IPC allocation and substitute it with RUCA, while maintaining the established seats for Swapo, RCCA, and AR.