The election observer team is headed by Francisco Madeira, the minister of diplomatic affairs in the president's office in Mozambique.
Speaking to journalists after his accreditation with the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), Madeira said the SADC observer team was not in Namibia to police the government and political parties on how to conduct elections.
He, however, said that Namibia state-owned media, particularly state-owned broad caster, NBC, should comply with SADC Principles and Guidelines on democratic elections by providing all political parties with equal air time.
Namibia's national broadcaster plucked off air time for political parties to air their programmes.
Parties can, however, access the airwaves through paid airtime.
Most small political parties have complained that their campaign budgets are too small and they can not afford paid adverts on national television.
Madeira said SADC Principles and Guidelines on elections stipulate that all political parties should have equal coverage in state media.
The NBC had previously been allocating airtime to political parties based on their representation or seats in Parliament.
The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) Tuesday said that NBC had increased its coverage of Swapo party from 82 per cent two weeks ago to 83 per cent, charging that the public-owned broadcaster regarded the opposition parties as less newsworthy.
Madeira said the SADC team would 'not fear to tackle any legitimate' complaint.
According to him, political parties should exercise restraint and preserve peace during election and voting time.
'We would like to plead with all stakeholders involved in this process to adhere and respect the rule of law so as to preserve peace and tranquillity that Namibia is admired for in the region,' Madeira said.
SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomao said the 100 observers would be posted in various centres in the country's 13 provinces.
'The mission will extensively cover political and other electoral related activities in the country, before, during and after voting date,' Salomao said.
Windhoek - 18/11/2009
Pana
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