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Namibian elections conducted fairly, says Oshana regional electoral officer

Tuyeimo Haidula
Oshana regional electoral officer Amon Haimbangu has said in his view the Namibian elections were conducted in a free and fair manner.

Over the weekend, he told Namibian Sun he was satisfied with the election process overall in the region

Haimbangu made these remarks at the Danger Ashipala Soccer Field polling station, in the Ondangwa Urban constituency, one of the areas designated for a second round of voting following the Electoral Commission of Namibia's (ECN) decision to extend voting in some areas of the country.

Voting was also extended in select other regions across the country.

More time to vote

In Oshana’s Okatyali constituency, seven polling stations were open for extended voting, four in Oshakati East constituency, while Opuwo Rural constituency had 13 polling stations.

Haimbangu noted that even voters who were turned away due to a shortage of ballot papers remained peaceful, which helped ease the overall voting process.

Addressing some of the challenges faced during the elections, he noted that one key factor to consider compared to previous elections is Namibia's population growth.

In past elections, the ECN managed smaller voter numbers, he said.

“The population has grown by now," he said.

He added that despite this, "we have not seen major incidents of violence [and] we are grateful to Namibians for being so peaceful."

Haimbangu conceded that one of the primary challenges encountered during the elections was a shortage of ballot papers at some polling stations.

Nevertheless, despite these hurdles, he said: "Overall, we performed well. Looking at the speed of the election process, we have improved compared to previous elections."

Low turnout at Okatyali

By Saturday afternoon, only 131 voters had cast their votes across all seven centres in the Okatyali constituency.

Saara Ruben, the presiding officer at the Okasheshete Community Hall in the constituency, reported that her polling station was quiet, with only one voter casting their vote on Friday night.

Ruben added that six people arrived early at 07:00 but left later when the station still lacked the necessary voting materials.

“I took their numbers so I could let them know when I had received the ballot papers, but only one returned,” she said.

Haimbangu noted the low turnout of voters in the Okatyali constituency, which was given the second highest number of polling stations in the second round of voting.

“Generally we don’t expect such a big number to come out of Okatyali because many people have already voted. And looking at the statistics from the general registration of voters, we did not have so many numbers out of Okatyali, but because we want to accord everyone else an opportunity to vote, hence the extension,” he said.

#NamibiaDecides2024

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Namibian Sun 2025-02-15

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Six Nations: Scotland 18 vs 32 Ireland | England 26 vs 25 France | Italy 22 vs 15 Wales Premier League: Everton 2 vs 2 Liverpool Katima Mulilo: 18° | 28° Rundu: 18° | 28° Eenhana: 18° | 27° Oshakati: 19° | 27° Ruacana: 18° | 27° Tsumeb: 18° | 25° Otjiwarongo: 18° | 24° Omaruru: 19° | 29° Windhoek: 19° | 28° Gobabis: 19° | 22° Henties Bay: 18° | 22° Wind speed: 19km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:07, High tide: 05:11, Low Tide: 23:08, High tide: 17:22 Swakopmund: 17° | 18° Wind speed: 16km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 11:05, High tide: 05:09, Low Tide: 23:06, High tide: 17:20 Walvis Bay: 18° | 21° Wind speed: 19km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 11:05, High tide: 05:08, Low Tide: 23:06, High tide: 17:19 Rehoboth: 21° | 30° Mariental: 24° | 35° Keetmanshoop: 26° | 37° Aranos: 21° | 33° Lüderitz: 15° | 27° Ariamsvlei: 24° | 39° Oranjemund: 15° | 23° Luanda: 26° | 29° Gaborone: 20° | 31° Lubumbashi: 17° | 21° Mbabane: 17° | 24° Maseru: 18° | 31° Antananarivo: 18° | 22° Lilongwe: 19° | 29° Maputo: 22° | 31° Windhoek: 19° | 28° Cape Town: 19° | 24° Durban: 21° | 24° Johannesburg: 18° | 30° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 17° | 19° Harare: 17° | 23° Currency: GBP to NAD 23.04 | EUR to NAD 19.24 | CNY to NAD 2.53 | USD to NAD 18.37 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.28 | EGP to NAD 0.35 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.64 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.21 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 134.95 | USD to AOA 912 | USD to BWP 13.83 | USD to EGP 50.59 | USD to KES 129.22 | USD to NGN 1509 | USD to ZAR 18.35 | USD to ZMW 28.15 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 88717.13 Up +1.00% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1797.63 Up +0.36% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 16452.23 Up +0.33% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 29997.11 Up +1.13% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 10063.87 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 882.48/OZ DOWN -0.0166 | Copper US$ 4.62/lb DOWN -0.0281 | Zinc US$ 2 857.30/T DOWN -0.07% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 74.89/BBP DOWN -0.0102 | Platinum US$ 1 001.35/OZ DOWN -0.0362 Sport results: Six Nations: Scotland 18 vs 32 Ireland | England 26 vs 25 France | Italy 22 vs 15 Wales Premier League: Everton 2 vs 2 Liverpool Weather: Katima Mulilo: 18° | 28° Rundu: 18° | 28° Eenhana: 18° | 27° Oshakati: 19° | 27° Ruacana: 18° | 27° Tsumeb: 18° | 25° Otjiwarongo: 18° | 24° Omaruru: 19° | 29° Windhoek: 19° | 28° Gobabis: 19° | 22° Henties Bay: 18° | 22° Wind speed: 19km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:07, High tide: 05:11, Low Tide: 23:08, High tide: 17:22 Swakopmund: 17° | 18° Wind speed: 16km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 11:05, High tide: 05:09, Low Tide: 23:06, High tide: 17:20 Walvis Bay: 18° | 21° Wind speed: 19km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 11:05, High tide: 05:08, Low Tide: 23:06, High tide: 17:19 Rehoboth: 21° | 30° Mariental: 24° | 35° Keetmanshoop: 26° | 37° Aranos: 21° | 33° Lüderitz: 15° | 27° Ariamsvlei: 24° | 39° Oranjemund: 15° | 23° Luanda: 26° | 29° Gaborone: 20° | 31° Lubumbashi: 17° | 21° Mbabane: 17° | 24° Maseru: 18° | 31° Antananarivo: 18° | 22° Lilongwe: 19° | 29° Maputo: 22° | 31° Windhoek: 19° | 28° Cape Town: 19° | 24° Durban: 21° | 24° Johannesburg: 18° | 30° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 17° | 19° Harare: 17° | 23° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.04 | EUR to NAD 19.24 | CNY to NAD 2.53 | USD to NAD 18.37 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.28 | EGP to NAD 0.35 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.64 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.21 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 134.95 | USD to AOA 912 | USD to BWP 13.83 | USD to EGP 50.59 | USD to KES 129.22 | USD to NGN 1509 | USD to ZAR 18.35 | USD to ZMW 28.15 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 88717.13 Up +1.00% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1797.63 Up +0.36% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 16452.23 Up +0.33% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 29997.11 Up +1.13% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 10063.87 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 882.48/OZ DOWN -0.0166 | Copper US$ 4.62/lb DOWN -0.0281 | Zinc US$ 2 857.30/T DOWN -0.07% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 74.89/BBP DOWN -0.0102 | Platinum US$ 1 001.35/OZ DOWN -0.0362