Walvis Bay
Four political parties will contest the upcoming by-election for Swakopmund.
The four contesting political parties are Swapo, the DTA of Namibia, the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo).
The four candidates are Swakopmund mayor Juuso Kambueshe (Swapo), the acting Erongo coordinator for Nudo, Uahimisa Kaapehi, Christa Magrietha Hochobes for the DTA, and Marius !Uwu-Gaeb the UDF secretary for Swakopmund.
The constituency by-election is to fill position of the Swapo Party councillor for Swakopmund, Germina Shitaleni, who succumbed to cancer in March this year.
According to the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) elections coordinator for Erongo Region, Kashidinge Lukas Nghipuilepo, preparations are well underway for the by-election slated for May 29.
“Our preparations are in full swing and we are well in keeping with our timetable,” Nghipuilepo said yesterday.
He added that 20 polling stations would be available to ensure a smooth election. He however could not say how many polling officers would be deployed.
He said apart from the 232 voters registered during the three-day supplementary registration in April, all registered voters in Swakopmund would be elegible to take part. Some 28 760 residents registered as voters in last year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
Meanwhile the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) deputy secretary for the Erongo Region, Monika von Wiedersheim, earlier this month said they would not take part in the by-election and rather concentrate on the regional council and local authority elections scheduled for the end of 2015.
“We are of the opinion that the time frame in which the victorious candidate for the 29 May by-election will occupy this position is too short (a mere six months), as there shall be elections conducted towards the end of 2015 for regional and local government.
‘We therefore wish to focus all efforts and resources on the said elections,” a media release issued by the RDP said last month.