EDITORIAL: Vote extension a welcome move
The late decision by the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) to extend voting to today and tomorrow in selected areas is commendable.
Of course the nation must carefully study how the selected areas where voting will continue were chosen – and whether this creates special advantages for certain candidates and their political parties.
In other words, we must also scrutinise whether there were similar issues elsewhere but such areas were not selected for continuation of voting. We know, for example, that the southern regions did not experience much disruption compared to Khomas, where people went back home without voting after spending 10 or more hours in the queues.
Surely this was not just an issue in Kunene, Oshana and Oshikoto – the selected El Dorados of continuous voting. We hope this decision was arrived at with the consensus of all political parties and not just exclusively by the ECN honchos.
This is particularly so after the ECN yesterday invited political parties to a meeting at its headquarters, only to fail to show up without a plausible explanation.
The fact that ECN continues to favour NBC ahead of other media houses when making key public announcements is deeply concerning.
ECN is not a commercial enterprise that, at its own volition, can pick and choose its media partners. Namibians use different media houses to access critical messages and by working only with one institution, ECN is invariably denying Namibians key messages that impact their lives and future.
Of course the nation must carefully study how the selected areas where voting will continue were chosen – and whether this creates special advantages for certain candidates and their political parties.
In other words, we must also scrutinise whether there were similar issues elsewhere but such areas were not selected for continuation of voting. We know, for example, that the southern regions did not experience much disruption compared to Khomas, where people went back home without voting after spending 10 or more hours in the queues.
Surely this was not just an issue in Kunene, Oshana and Oshikoto – the selected El Dorados of continuous voting. We hope this decision was arrived at with the consensus of all political parties and not just exclusively by the ECN honchos.
This is particularly so after the ECN yesterday invited political parties to a meeting at its headquarters, only to fail to show up without a plausible explanation.
The fact that ECN continues to favour NBC ahead of other media houses when making key public announcements is deeply concerning.
ECN is not a commercial enterprise that, at its own volition, can pick and choose its media partners. Namibians use different media houses to access critical messages and by working only with one institution, ECN is invariably denying Namibians key messages that impact their lives and future.
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Namibian Sun
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