Ready, steady, vote!

The spirit that led to the birth of the Namibian nation in 1989 is set to emerge again, as 1.2 million voters cast their votes in the nation’s biggest-ever democratic elections today. The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) is operating a total of 1 255 fixed and 2 711 mobile polling stations with a total of 2 080 teams deployed across the 121 constituencies. The ECN has also deployed over 140 information technology support staff across the country to provide technical support for the 4 160 electronic voting machines (EVMS) in the field. Political parties have conducted election campaigns described by many, including President Hifikepunye Pohamba, as very peaceful. The campaign rallies included the parading of presidential hopefuls and potential MPs by the contesting political parties. The parties are all hopeful that their showing at the polls will wield positive results, with Swapo aiming for increasing its majority and the opposition parties mainly fighting for the status of official opposition. Swapo Secretary-General Nangolo Mbumba said it his party’s hope, prayer that the voting will be peaceful and that all 1.2 million registered voters will make it to the polls. “As Namibians we stop making these predictions and put ourselves and our candidates in the hands of the voters and hope for the best,” Mbumba said. The spokesperson of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), Jeremiah Nambinga, said: “Elections are elections for what they are. We are very optimistic that we will do well.” The RDP, along with the Workers’ Revolution Party and NEFF, this week sought a court interdict to postpone today’s elections to next year because of the absence of a verifiable paper audit trail with the EVMs. The matter was dismissed by the High Court and the parties have appealed to the Supreme Court. DTA president McHenry Venaani said his party has grown to be the biggest opposition party in the country and he hopes that Namibians will today give them the mandate to run the country. “I urge Namibians to go and vote in numbers. I want to urge all DTA supporters to go out and vote. As Namibians, let us vote for the country. Let us for people who we know will take the country forward,” Venaani said. The National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) SG, Meundju Jahanika, informed Namibian Sun that his party is aiming to win five seats in the National Assembly (NA). “My estimate is that only 800 000 of the 1.2 million registered voters will vote,” Jahanika said. According to the national coordinator of the Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF), Kalimbo Iipumbu, many Namibians have bought into his party’s ideology. Iipumbu said: “People will go out there and vote for NEFF. We are expecting good numbers and at least 20 seats for NEFF, if the elections are free and fair.” Christian Democratic Voice (CDV) president Gotthardt Kandume is convinced that the 95% Christian population will vote for his party to send a lot of members to the NA to speak on their behalf. Observers The African Union will deploy 55 election observers and the Commonwealth has four. According to the ECN, it has accredited 85 election observers under the SADC Parliamentary Forum and SADC Electoral Commission Forum missions. ECN Director of Operations Theo Mujoro said although SADC submitted 92 names for accreditation, he is still waiting for the final list after some substitutions were made. The European Union registered 25 observers and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has ten. The ECN also approved eight observers under the local Zimbabwean Embassy while the American Embassy has 21 accredited election observers. The University of South Africa has two observers and the University of Freiburg has one. The biggest group of observers – 359 - are from the Namibian Institute for Democracy but Mujoro said some changes were made to this list. The Namibian Non-Governmental Organisations Forum (NANGOF) will send out 36 observers while the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung have one and two observers respectively. South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Agence France Presse, Xinhua News Agency, Al Jazeera, China Radio and CCTV Africa are the international media organisations accredited to cover the elections. WINDHOEK ELVIS MURARANGANDA