The Electoral Commission of Namibia's (ECN) Chief Electoral and Referenda Officer, Peter Shaama, explained what the 2025 Regional Councils and Local Authorities Elections are all about and why they play such a crucial role in Namibia's democratic process.

Shaama was speaking during a Government Information Centre session on Tuesday.

Shaama said these elections provide a platform to elect leaders at the grassroots level, helping to accelerate service delivery in essential areas such as land, water, electricity, healthcare, education, food and nutrition and housing.

"These elections play a very critical role towards the development of any region or constituency because remember, all these emanate from the constituency level. That is why we need them so that they assess the needs of the communities they lead and come up with necessary capital projects to address those needs in terms of services I alluded to."

Shaama also highlighted some of the requirements for independent candidates contesting for regional councillor positions.

He explained that such candidates must be registered voters, and their nominations must be supported by at least 100 registered voters from within the constituency they are contesting.

"Independent candidates are only allowed to contest for the regional council and not the local authorities. The local authorities are only for the political parties, and I wish to underscore that registered political parties are with the commission, organisations or associations."

He further revealed that "Before July this year, we had 57 local authorities, but of course by July, there were two additional local authorities proclaimed. That is Onandjamba in the Okalongo constituency in Omusati and Uis in Daures in the Erongo Region. Now we are talking about 59 local authorities for this year's election."

Shama emphasised that the ECN remains the only authority responsible for conducting elections in the country.