WINDHOEK- At this stage, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has been able to secure 712 government vehicles, leaving a shortfall of 145 vehicles in order to conduct a successful voter registration process.
In terms of section 38 (1) of the Electoral Act, the supplementary registration of voters will be conducted over 18 days from July 8-27, as duly proclaimed by President Hage Geingob.
Presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled to take place on November 27.
Giving an update on the electoral body’s preparedness for the 2019 supplementary registration of voters, ECN Chairperson Advocate Notemba Tjipueja yesterday said a total number of 856 vehicles are needed to be assigned to the registration officials, including regional coordinators, assistant coordinators, supervisors of registration, IT technicians, logistical personnel as well as the registration teams.
However, she said, ECN has so far been able to secure 712 government vehicles, leaving a shortfall of 145 vehicles.
To cover the shortfall, she noted, the ECN has devised a plan B whereby they will resort to contracting private citizens with suitable vehicles to assist in the transportation of personnel and registration material during the upcoming registration process.
“As I speak, the ECN has set in motion the implementation of plan B as it is now apparent that the required number of government vehicles-about 856 cannot be secured,” said Tjipueja.
Regarding private vehicles, the ECN said there is a pre-determined rate for such cars, with a 4×4 pickup bakkie fetching about N$1200 per day.
Although transport still remains a challenge, Tjipueja maintained that all regional management teams have already received vehicles and are already in the field, making preparations for the commencement of the registration process of July 8.
In addition, she said registered voters, registered political parties and organisations will be afforded the opportunity to subject the provisional voter’s registers to scrutiny and possible objection of names in the registers who may not be eligible to be registered as voters.
In terms of section 32 (3) of the Electoral Act No.5 of 2014, any objections to the inclusion of names in the provisional register may be lodged with designated magistrate courts, which are also known as Electoral Tribunals.
Hence, 15 days from September 9-24 are set aside for the representation of objections before the Electoral Tribunal.
She stated the ECN amay not remove any name of a registered voter from the provisional voter’s register except by a written order by the tribunal. Therefore, she explained the number of voters on the final registers might be reduced by the number of any objections upheld by the courts.
the final voter’s registers are expected to be published in the Gazette on October 25.
She assured the nation that the voter’s register is subjected to rigorous verification and cleaning process before the final voter’s register is published.
With regard to the specialised transport requirements, she confirmed the ECN managed to secure five trucks and two helicopters. The helicopters are mainly used in certain inaccessible areas of the Kunene Region where road infrastructure is almost non-existent.
Further, she said the Zambezi Regional Council has committed two boats to be used in the Kabbe flood-prone area of the Zambezi Region.
Equally, she reported in-country registration materials have already been dispatched to the respective regions from June 25-30.
She added registration materials for the 34 diplomatic missions have also been dispatched from June 14-21, and have been received without hiccups.
All regional logistic stores, she said have already been operational as from June 21 and the deployment of 671 registration teams is expected to take place this weekend, both in-country and at diplomatic missions.
All registration venues have also been identified, verified and secured in all 121 constituencies.
Moreover, she confirmed the submission of the nomination of any independent candidates for Presidential elections is scheduled to take place on October 16.
On November 13, voting will take place at Namibia’s foreign missions as well as the voting of seagoing personnel.
The ECN urged all eligible Namibians who do not already have a voter’s card to go in droves to registration points to register themselves.