Voter apathy an indictment on parties - ECN
Parties urged to do their part
The electoral body says there is a need to conduct research to determine why registered voters stay away on voting day.
The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) says low voter turnout is an indictment on political parties who do little to encourage their followers to exercise their voting rights, while the fielding of quality candidates has also come under scrutiny.
This is according to the electoral body’s chief information officer, Gustav Tomanga, who expressed concern about voter apathy at the Election and Media Monitoring Tool workshop that took place in Windhoek.
Tomanga said political parties and members of the public are quick to accuse ECN of doing little to create awareness among voters, despite statistics indicating that the number of voters who turn up on voting day is far less than the number of registered voters.
During the 2019 polls, more than 530 000 of the 1 358 468 registered voters did not cast their vote on election day.
“We are accused of not doing much, but the methodology used to register voters is the same one used for the actual elections, but the numbers are far apart. One wonders what the contributing factor could be,” Tomanga said.
He added: “From my own view, there are underlying factors that contribute to this. Hence, as ECN, we wanted to conduct research in collaboration with tertiary institutions to come up with solutions.”
Benefits of voter cards
Tomanga said additional benefits of having a voter card could be among the reasons individuals obtain them without intending to vote.
“There are certain benefits that come with having a voter card; we have seen some councillors ask members of the public for voter cards when distributing drought relief food. Some institutions, like banks, also accept voter cards as a form of identification,” he said.
In recent days, several parties have initiated online campaigns urging their followers to register to vote, a move that Tomanga feels will go a long way towards ensuring that eligible voters are registered.
“Voting is political because if parties do not field candidates that meet the expectations of the public, people will opt to rather stay away, and there is nothing we can do about it as the ECN,” he said.
“Political parties must play their part because people are more likely to listen to their parties than ECN officials. We must all work on this as stakeholders to change the status quo," he emphasised.
This is according to the electoral body’s chief information officer, Gustav Tomanga, who expressed concern about voter apathy at the Election and Media Monitoring Tool workshop that took place in Windhoek.
Tomanga said political parties and members of the public are quick to accuse ECN of doing little to create awareness among voters, despite statistics indicating that the number of voters who turn up on voting day is far less than the number of registered voters.
During the 2019 polls, more than 530 000 of the 1 358 468 registered voters did not cast their vote on election day.
“We are accused of not doing much, but the methodology used to register voters is the same one used for the actual elections, but the numbers are far apart. One wonders what the contributing factor could be,” Tomanga said.
He added: “From my own view, there are underlying factors that contribute to this. Hence, as ECN, we wanted to conduct research in collaboration with tertiary institutions to come up with solutions.”
Benefits of voter cards
Tomanga said additional benefits of having a voter card could be among the reasons individuals obtain them without intending to vote.
“There are certain benefits that come with having a voter card; we have seen some councillors ask members of the public for voter cards when distributing drought relief food. Some institutions, like banks, also accept voter cards as a form of identification,” he said.
In recent days, several parties have initiated online campaigns urging their followers to register to vote, a move that Tomanga feels will go a long way towards ensuring that eligible voters are registered.
“Voting is political because if parties do not field candidates that meet the expectations of the public, people will opt to rather stay away, and there is nothing we can do about it as the ECN,” he said.
“Political parties must play their part because people are more likely to listen to their parties than ECN officials. We must all work on this as stakeholders to change the status quo," he emphasised.
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