KATIMA MULILO – Despite some challenges faced, ranging from ballot paper shortages to malfunctioning verification devices, the electoral body has assured that citizens who showed up at polling stations cast their votes.
New Era visited various constituencies where polling stations were erected, and observed that some stations faced a shortage of ballot papers, and devices were also malfunctioning.
However, Zambezi electoral officer for the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN)Lesley Simwanza, last week assured no voter was left out due to these challenges.
“The public came in numbers. They cast their votes. Everything went smoothly with the exception of a few polling stations in various constituencies that ran out of ballot papers,” Simwanza said.
He said ECN came up with proactive measures to ensure the shortage of ballots was resolved.
The electoral officer said polling stations that ran out of ballots liaised with other polling stations, and received ballot papers.
“There were one or two incidences where voting had to come to a standstill, the longest being one hour while others were 30 minutes. This was so because of the long trips we were embarking on to collect the ballot papers from other polling stations. That’s the only hiccup I think we encountered, but we managed to ensure everyone who was in the queue voted as ballot papers were sourced from various polling stations at different constituencies,” Simwanza noted.
In terms of safety at polling stations, he said the region conducted peaceful and orderly elections with no political interference or violence reported.
“I must thank our security personnel who made sure there was peace, safety, and security. We are grateful to the Namibian Police, especially to their head, Joseph Nehemia, who was available whenever a situation arose and was ready to assist. We didn’t have an incident where there was violence or any form of threat at the polling stations,” he reported.
Zambezi has eight constituencies.