diff --git a/build/package/peerd-helm/templates/_helpers.tpl b/build/package/peerd-helm/templates/_helpers.tpl
index 61d3ad8..f7fd591 100644
--- a/build/package/peerd-helm/templates/_helpers.tpl
+++ b/build/package/peerd-helm/templates/_helpers.tpl
@@ -6,8 +6,12 @@ Expand the name of the chart.
 {{- end }}
 
 {{- define "peerd.namespace" -}}
+{{- if .Values.peerd.namespace.k8s }}
+{{- .Values.peerd.namespace.k8s }}
+{{- else }}
 {{ include "peerd.name" . }}-ns
 {{- end }}
+{{- end }}
 
 {{- define "peerd.serviceAccountName" -}}
 {{ include "peerd.name" . }}-sa
diff --git a/build/package/peerd-helm/templates/peerd-ds.yml b/build/package/peerd-helm/templates/peerd-ds.yml
index 899b7b8..10ceb2a 100644
--- a/build/package/peerd-helm/templates/peerd-ds.yml
+++ b/build/package/peerd-helm/templates/peerd-ds.yml
@@ -25,9 +25,10 @@ spec:
         - image: "{{ .Values.peerd.image.ref }}"
           imagePullPolicy: "{{ .Values.peerd.image.pullPolicy }}"
           args:
-            - "--log-level=debug"
+            - "--log-level={{ .Values.peerd.logLevel }}"
             - "run"
             - "--http-addr=0.0.0.0:5000"
+            - "--k8s-namespace={{ .Values.peerd.namespace.k8s }}"
             - "--add-mirror-configuration={{ .Values.peerd.configureMirrors }}"
             {{- with .Values.peerd.hosts }}
             - --hosts
diff --git a/build/package/peerd-helm/values.yaml b/build/package/peerd-helm/values.yaml
index 28a5d1c..50275bd 100644
--- a/build/package/peerd-helm/values.yaml
+++ b/build/package/peerd-helm/values.yaml
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ peerd:
     ref: ghcr.io/azure/acr/dev/peerd:stable
     pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
   
+  logLevel: debug
+
   # Whether to add configuration for mirrors specified below to /etc/containerd/certs.d.
   # https://github.com/containerd/containerd/blob/main/docs/hosts.md#registry-configuration---examples
   configureMirrors: true
@@ -25,5 +27,9 @@ peerd:
     requests:
       cpu: "10m"
 
+  namespace:
+    # The kubernetes namespace for pod deployment and leader election.
+    k8s: peerd-ns
+
   # Uncomment to add tolerations.
   # tolerations:
diff --git a/cmd/proxy/cmd.go b/cmd/proxy/cmd.go
index c0e93b6..e387140 100644
--- a/cmd/proxy/cmd.go
+++ b/cmd/proxy/cmd.go
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ type ServerCmd struct {
 	PromAddr        string `arg:"--prom-addr" help:"address of prometheus metrics endpoint" default:"0.0.0.0:5004"`
 	PrefetchWorkers int    `arg:"--prefetch-workers" help:"number of workers to prefetch content" default:"50"`
 
+	// Leader election namespace.
+	K8sNamespace string `arg:"--k8s-namespace" help:"namespace for leader election" default:"peerd-ns"`
+
 	// Mirror configuration.
 	Hosts                     []string `arg:"--hosts" help:"list of hosts to mirror"`
 	AddMirrorConfiguration    bool     `arg:"--add-mirror-configuration" help:"add mirror configuration to containerd host configuration" default:"false"`
diff --git a/cmd/proxy/main.go b/cmd/proxy/main.go
index f23df17..88c323f 100644
--- a/cmd/proxy/main.go
+++ b/cmd/proxy/main.go
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ func serverCommand(ctx context.Context, args *ServerCmd) (err error) {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	ctx, err = events.WithContext(ctx, clientset)
+	ctx, err = events.WithContext(ctx, clientset, args.K8sNamespace)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ func serverCommand(ctx context.Context, args *ServerCmd) (err error) {
 
 	eventsRecorder.Initializing()
 
-	r, err := routing.NewRouter(ctx, clientset, args.RouterAddr, httpsPort)
+	r, err := routing.NewRouter(ctx, clientset, args.RouterAddr, httpsPort, args.K8sNamespace)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/internal/context/context.go b/internal/context/context.go
index e1ffdec..bcbae63 100644
--- a/internal/context/context.go
+++ b/internal/context/context.go
@@ -59,7 +59,6 @@ const (
 
 var (
 	NodeName, _ = os.Hostname()
-	Namespace   = "peerd-ns"
 
 	// KubeConfigPath is the path of the kubeconfig file.
 	KubeConfigPath = "/opt/peerd/kubeconfig"
diff --git a/internal/k8s/events/events.go b/internal/k8s/events/events.go
index d17f66d..0feef34 100644
--- a/internal/k8s/events/events.go
+++ b/internal/k8s/events/events.go
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ var (
 )
 
 // NewRecorder creates a new event recorder.
-func NewRecorder(ctx context.Context, k *k8s.ClientSet) (EventRecorder, error) {
+func NewRecorder(ctx context.Context, k *k8s.ClientSet, k8sNamespace string) (EventRecorder, error) {
 	clientset := k.Interface
 	inPod := k.InPod
 
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ func NewRecorder(ctx context.Context, k *k8s.ClientSet) (EventRecorder, error) {
 			APIVersion: node.APIVersion,
 		}
 	} else {
-		pod, err := clientset.CoreV1().Pods(p2pcontext.Namespace).Get(ctx, p2pcontext.NodeName, metav1.GetOptions{})
+		pod, err := clientset.CoreV1().Pods(k8sNamespace).Get(ctx, p2pcontext.NodeName, metav1.GetOptions{})
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ func NewRecorder(ctx context.Context, k *k8s.ClientSet) (EventRecorder, error) {
 
 	broadcaster := record.NewBroadcaster()
 	broadcaster.StartStructuredLogging(4)
-	broadcaster.StartRecordingToSink(&typedv1core.EventSinkImpl{Interface: clientset.CoreV1().Events(p2pcontext.Namespace)})
+	broadcaster.StartRecordingToSink(&typedv1core.EventSinkImpl{Interface: clientset.CoreV1().Events(k8sNamespace)})
 
 	return &eventRecorder{
 		recorder: broadcaster.NewRecorder(
@@ -65,8 +65,8 @@ func NewRecorder(ctx context.Context, k *k8s.ClientSet) (EventRecorder, error) {
 }
 
 // WithContext returns a new context with an event recorder.
-func WithContext(ctx context.Context, clientset *k8s.ClientSet) (context.Context, error) {
-	er, err := NewRecorder(ctx, clientset)
+func WithContext(ctx context.Context, clientset *k8s.ClientSet, k8sNamespace string) (context.Context, error) {
+	er, err := NewRecorder(ctx, clientset, k8sNamespace)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/internal/k8s/events/events_test.go b/internal/k8s/events/events_test.go
index 6c79660..7a43290 100644
--- a/internal/k8s/events/events_test.go
+++ b/internal/k8s/events/events_test.go
@@ -16,11 +16,12 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestWithContext(t *testing.T) {
+	ns := "test-ns"
 	fcs := fake.NewSimpleClientset([]runtime.Object{
 		&v1.Pod{
 			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
 				Name:      p2pcontext.NodeName,
-				Namespace: p2pcontext.Namespace,
+				Namespace: ns,
 				UID:       "test-uid",
 			},
 		},
@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@ func TestWithContext(t *testing.T) {
 
 	cs := &k8s.ClientSet{Interface: fcs, InPod: true}
 
-	ctx, err := WithContext(context.Background(), cs)
+	ctx, err := WithContext(context.Background(), cs, ns)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -44,6 +45,8 @@ func TestWithContext(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestNewRecorderInNode(t *testing.T) {
+	ns := "test-ns"
+
 	fcs := fake.NewSimpleClientset([]runtime.Object{
 		&v1.Node{
 			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
@@ -55,7 +58,7 @@ func TestNewRecorderInNode(t *testing.T) {
 
 	cs := &k8s.ClientSet{Interface: fcs, InPod: false}
 
-	r, err := NewRecorder(context.Background(), cs)
+	r, err := NewRecorder(context.Background(), cs, ns)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -77,11 +80,13 @@ func TestNewRecorderInNode(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestNewRecorderInPod(t *testing.T) {
+	ns := "test-ns"
+
 	fcs := fake.NewSimpleClientset([]runtime.Object{
 		&v1.Pod{
 			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
 				Name:      p2pcontext.NodeName,
-				Namespace: p2pcontext.Namespace,
+				Namespace: ns,
 				UID:       "test-uid",
 			},
 		},
@@ -89,7 +94,7 @@ func TestNewRecorderInPod(t *testing.T) {
 
 	cs := &k8s.ClientSet{Interface: fcs, InPod: true}
 
-	r, err := NewRecorder(context.Background(), cs)
+	r, err := NewRecorder(context.Background(), cs, ns)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -105,8 +110,8 @@ func TestNewRecorderInPod(t *testing.T) {
 	if er.objRef.Name != p2pcontext.NodeName {
 		t.Errorf("expected name to be %s, got %s", p2pcontext.NodeName, er.objRef.Name)
 	}
-	if er.objRef.Namespace != p2pcontext.Namespace {
-		t.Errorf("expected namespace to be %s, got %s", p2pcontext.Namespace, er.objRef.Namespace)
+	if er.objRef.Namespace != ns {
+		t.Errorf("expected namespace to be %s, got %s", ns, er.objRef.Namespace)
 	}
 	if er.objRef.UID != "test-uid" {
 		t.Errorf("expected uid to be test-uid, got %s", er.objRef.UID)
diff --git a/internal/routing/router.go b/internal/routing/router.go
index df1cdbd..0325e85 100644
--- a/internal/routing/router.go
+++ b/internal/routing/router.go
@@ -27,12 +27,13 @@ import (
 )
 
 type router struct {
-	clientset   *k8s.ClientSet
-	p2pnet      peernet.Network
-	host        host.Host
-	rd          *routing.RoutingDiscovery
-	port        string
-	lookupCache *ristretto.Cache
+	clientset    *k8s.ClientSet
+	p2pnet       peernet.Network
+	host         host.Host
+	rd           *routing.RoutingDiscovery
+	port         string
+	lookupCache  *ristretto.Cache
+	k8sNamespace string
 
 	active atomic.Bool
 }
@@ -44,7 +45,7 @@ type PeerNotFoundError struct {
 }
 
 // NewRouter creates a new router.
-func NewRouter(ctx context.Context, clientset *k8s.ClientSet, routerAddr, serverPort string) (Router, error) {
+func NewRouter(ctx context.Context, clientset *k8s.ClientSet, routerAddr, serverPort, k8sNamespace string) (Router, error) {
 	log := zerolog.Ctx(ctx).With().Str("component", "router").Logger()
 
 	h, p, err := net.SplitHostPort(routerAddr)
@@ -82,7 +83,7 @@ func NewRouter(ctx context.Context, clientset *k8s.ClientSet, routerAddr, server
 	self := fmt.Sprintf("%s/p2p/%s", host.Addrs()[0].String(), host.ID().String())
 	log.Info().Str("id", self).Msg("starting p2p router")
 
-	leaderElection := election.New(p2pcontext.Namespace, "peerd-leader-election", p2pcontext.KubeConfigPath)
+	leaderElection := election.New(k8sNamespace, "peerd-leader-election", p2pcontext.KubeConfigPath)
 
 	err = leaderElection.RunOrDie(ctx, self)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -139,12 +140,13 @@ func NewRouter(ctx context.Context, clientset *k8s.ClientSet, routerAddr, server
 	}
 
 	return &router{
-		clientset:   clientset,
-		p2pnet:      n,
-		host:        host,
-		rd:          rd,
-		port:        serverPort,
-		lookupCache: c,
+		clientset:    clientset,
+		p2pnet:       n,
+		host:         host,
+		rd:           rd,
+		port:         serverPort,
+		lookupCache:  c,
+		k8sNamespace: k8sNamespace,
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -199,7 +201,7 @@ func (r *router) Resolve(ctx context.Context, key string, allowSelf bool, count
 			peerCh <- PeerInfo{info.ID, fmt.Sprintf("https://%s:%s", v, r.port)}
 
 			if r.active.CompareAndSwap(false, true) {
-				er, err := events.NewRecorder(ctx, r.clientset)
+				er, err := events.NewRecorder(ctx, r.clientset, r.k8sNamespace)
 				if err != nil {
 					log.Error().Err(err).Msg("could not create event recorder")
 				} else {