New Era

WINDHOEK – Excitement reigned as Namibians went to the polls at the weekend to choose a president and a political party that will govern Namibia for the next five years.

Long and in some cases winding queues were observed especially on the first day of polling on Friday, as Namibians voted for the fourth time since the country attained its independence on March 21, 1990.

Voters queued up, undeterred by the grilling sun that reigned after a cloud cover in the morning dispersed.

While a few understood the type of weather conditions associated with summer in Namibia and were armed with umbrellas and chairs, many others stood in the sun and patiently waited their turn to cast their vote.

Some voters started queuing up in the wee hours of Friday to increase their chances of voting as early as possible.

President Hifikepunye Pohamba opened the polls at 07h00 at the Namibia Children’s Home on Friday accompanied by First Lady Penehupifo Pohamba, Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Theo-Ben Gurirab, Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Hage Geingob, Minister of Education Nangolo Mbumba and other members of Parliament.

Leaders of various opposition parties among them the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) Hidipo Hamutenya, All People’s Party Ignatius Shixwameni and Monitor Action Group’s parliamentarian Jurie Viljoen voted at the MTC headquarters in Olympia on Friday morning.

While Shixwameni expressed happiness that Namibians have democratic elections and hoped that the results would be announced by yesterday, Hamutenya said he was disturbed that issues surrounding dead people and the under-aged that appear on the voters’ roll were not addressed by the time polling started.

Most of the polling stations New Era visited on Friday morning had long queues with presiding officers saying they did not experience problems with the voting process. Some polling stations started slightly late because of problems relating to access passwords allocated for the operation of the electoral voters’ register.

This according to Electoral Commission of Namibia Director, Moses Ndjarakana, was observed in selected polling stations in all urban centres. He, however, said the problem was solved within minutes of the opening of the polls.

At the JMP Church polling station in Ombili settlement in the Moses Garoeb constituency, 150 people had voted by around 10h00. Breastfeeding mothers, senior citizens and people with disabilities were given preference considering the heat, said presiding officer, Antonio Cloete.

While long queues could still be seen on Saturday in Windhoek, outlying areas were rather quiet with voters trickling in. At Groot Aub polling station, the chairs that were lined up for voters were rather empty, as most residents of the settlement work in Windhoek and were expected to cast their vote in the afternoon.

The same quietness prevailed at most polling stations, including Oamites Army Base, Hermanus van Wyk Hall, 101 Oanob Community Hall, Reho Spa Resort and a mobile polling station in Rehoboth.

At Oamites, a born-free Juline Fliede and her family walked some 8 km from their farm to vote.

Juline said she was happy to have voted for the first time.

“It is important to vote,” she said.

Business went on as usual on both days with entrepreneurs cashing in on the large numbers of people that came to vote. In Okuryangava, Nampa Hangula and Ndahafa Mutala delayed casting their votes because they needed to make money first. Hangula said standing in the long queue would deny them the opportunity of earning money considering they have children to feed.

“This is how we make our money. We cannot go to and in the long queues. We will go later when the line becomes shorter,” she said.

The main street in Rehoboth was full of activity with residents shopping and selling and enjoying the traditional braai vleis and roosterbrood.

While others voted at Reho Spa Resort polling station, a stone’s throw away, many others braaied and swam, saying they were not voting because they were not interested in politics. Close to the 101 Oanob Community Hall polling station, mostly the elderly enjoyed themselves at a tombo outlet.

Some people in Windhoek also expressed the sentiment of not wanting to vote. A passenger in a taxi said voting was like giving employment to someone else that does not care for you.

“I hear someone fainted. Can’t they faint for something better? They cannot even faint for their own bread. Voting is like helping someone to secure his work,” the passenger said.

Some presiding officers New Era spoke to said they had problems with the secret mark, which they said rubbed off the voter’s cards.

Some election observers especially from the Council of Churches on Friday could not be allowed into the polling stations to perform their duties because they were not accredited.

According to a Nampa report, an African Union observer described the two-day polling process as the best in Africa.

In an interview with Nampa minutes before voting closed at the Aimablaagte community hall polling station in the Mariental Urban Constituency on Saturday night, Kebreab Habte Michael expressed satisfaction with voting during their observing mission at 11 polling stations in the region.

“The voters are very enthusiastic. The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) is very organised. People are very organised, well-behaved and very peaceful,” he said.

According to Habte Michael, many citizens in African countries never had the opportunity to participate in such a peaceful election process.

Another observer, Dr Omer Ibrahim expressed the same sentiment, pointing out that prisoners in the country also had the opportunity to cast their votes for a president and members of the National Assembly, which is not common in most African countries.

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