New Era

OKAHANDJA – The turnout of the much-talked about by-election for the Okahandja constituency started off on a relatively high note yesterday morning but quickly diffused, as only solitary voters turned up at various polling stations throughout the day.

However, good turnouts were seen at various polling stations in Okahandja, especially in the town’s informal settlements, where hundreds of voters pitched up to cast their votes.
The upmarket suburbs of Okahandja saw mild turnouts, but although the afternoon was relatively quiet, it was expected that more voters would turn up after 17h00 when the town’s working class would have knocked off from work.

The average turnout comes amid high expectations that after aggressive campaigns by participating political parties, voters would turn-up in their numbers yesterday.

There were no reports of disturbances, as the local police kept an eagle’s eye on the day’s proceedings, while polling agents of participating parties and officials of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) also kept a watchful eye.

The only incident reported yesterday was of a male voter who allegedly tried to vote with a copy of a voter’s card and almost sparked a scuffle as he refused to adhere to the instructions of officials at the site.
Candidates of participating parties were among a galaxy of voters, who cast their vote soon after polling stations opened.
Independent candidate, Ben Katamila, cast his vote at Aurora Primary School amid high media attention, while youthful Swapo candidate, Steve ‘Biko’ Booys, braved the hype and joined the long queue to cast his vote.

Counting of votes was only expected to start at 21h00 last night, soon after the closure of polling stations. Results were expected to be posted outside every polling station, while the central verification centre, where all results would be sent by polling stations, would announce the final results.

The final results were expected to be announced yesterday by midnight or in the early morning hours of today.

Several high-profile ECN officials flocked to Okahandja to monitor the proceedings, with Director of Elections, Moses Ndjarakana, and Deputy Director of Operations, Theo Mujoro, being notable absentees.
The pair’s absence at Okahandja fuelled more talks that they are serving suspensions meted out against them by the ECN, although none of the electoral body’s powers that be has been at liberty to set the record straight regarding the status of the two officials.

Meanwhile, Swapo Party received a morale booster on the eve of the by-election when five well-known residents of Okahandja joined the party.

Among these are Martin !Owos-oab, who stood as a candidate for the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the 2004 regional and local council elections.

“I was previously a Swapo member and I took a chance at the 2004 elections on the UDF ticket but now I have returned to Swapo. Many people here are frustrated by the fact that many opposition parties opted to rally behind the RDP (Rally for Democracy and Progress) candidate instead of fielding their own candidates,” he told New Era.

Also joining Swapo on Tuesday was Frans Karigeib, Gilbert Karigub, a certain Nyambe, while active Congress of Democrats (CoD) member at Okahandja Belinda Garoes promised to vote for Swapo in yesterday’s poll, but vowed to maintain her CoD membership.

Garoes said she too was not in support of RDP’s Christophine Paulus’ candidature and would vote for the CoD if the party fields its own candidate in future elections.

New Era’s attempts to get an update on the alleged physical attack on RDP regional secretary, Maleachi Ilonga on Monday evening proved futile, as the Okahandja Police Station commander was said to be out of office for the better part of yesterday.

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