Polls quiet in South

Polling stations at Keetmanshoop and Mariental this past Friday seemed very quiet, with no queues in sight, as voters headed to the polls to cast their votes in the regional and local authority elections. In the early morning hours at Keetmanshoop, when the polling stations opened at 07:00, there were only short queues that gathered, as people waited in line to be the first to cast their votes. But as the doors opened they were quickly helped inside and the queues disappeared, leaving nothing but empty streets. As the day continued, the fewer the voters became, and some election officials remarked that the turnout was poor due to the fact that the day was declared a public holiday, and people therefore did not turn up to vote. Long queues could for instance be seen in front of ATMs and at shopping centres, instead of polling stations. Other officials said that voters were simply not waiting as long in queues, as the voter verification process was much faster. Also at Tses the polls were quiet, with only a few voters present during the afternoon when Namibian Sun visited. Election officials said they were quite busy during the morning, when the majority of people came to vote. Meanwhile, in Mariental election points were completely empty by the afternoon, with only about one or two voters that turned up at a time. Outside of Mariental at the Fresh Water Fish Institute - close to the Hardap Dam - election officials were even sleeping in cars, as they waited for voters to turn up. The majority of voters had casted their votes in the morning, officials said. No major problems were reported at the polling stations that Namibian Sun visited in Mariental and Keetmanshoop and the voting process ran smoothly during the day. Swapo’s Hilma Nicanor was declared councillor for the Keetmanshoop Urban Constituency, after garnering 2 291 votes. Nicanor was followed by Fredrika Kulhumann of the DTA with 551 votes and Peter John Visser of the Rally for Democracy and Progress with 378 votes. A total number of 3 220 votes were counted for this constituency. Simon Christy Dukeleni of Swapo was declared as councillor of the Mariental Rural Constituency, after he collected 1 207 votes. Anna Elizabeth de Kock of the DTA received 276 votes. A total number of 1 483 votes were recorded for this constituency. ELLANIE SMIT