Mulisa Simiyasa 

OTJIWARONGO – The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) on Friday confirmed that a ballot paper for the Presidential elections had gone missing from a polling station in Otjiwarongo. 

The issue came to light on Thursday morning during the first round of counting of the preliminary results of the Presidential and National Assembly elections held countrywide last Wednesday. 

The presiding officer at the Cornerstone Church building polling station in the DRC informal area, Elifas Ndipulalye in an inter vi ew with Nampa on Friday said his team consisted of seven election officials and three political agents from the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), Swapo and the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC). Despite efforts from the team of election officials and par ty agent s , the missing ballot paper could not be found. 

They discovered that the ballot paper was missing during Thursday morning’s count. 

“A re-count on Thursday was conducted at the same venue, but it was not found, followed by a third re-count at the Otjiwarongo ECN Collation Centre situated at the Vooruit Primary School Hall on Friday, but the same results were reached,” said Ndipulalye. 

He stated that at the Corne r s t one Churc h building polling station, 622 votes were counted in the Presidential elections, with 13 rejected. In the National Assembly elections, 496 votes were counted, with 13 similarly rejected. 

ECN Returning Officer for the Otjiwarongo Constituency Charlotte Jantze, who was also present during the third recounting of votes at the collation centre, speculated that the missing ballot paper might not have been deposited into the ballot box. 

“The voter might have walked away with it to his or her home,” said Jantze. 

However, the National Assembly election votes are correct, she said. 

The balancing of information and counting of votes in both the Presidential and National Assembly elect ions in several other constituencies in the Otjozondjupa Region was ongoing as of Friday afternoon. 

-Nampa