The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) yesterday said it is ready to conduct free, fair and credible rerun elections at Koës, Aroab and Stampriet local authorities, as well as Mariental Rural constituency.
Chief electoral officer Theo Mujoro said the commission has put in place requisite logistical preparations to ensure the successful conduct of the elections set for today.
He said, by yesterday, all polling teams were deployed to their respective duty stations to ensure the timely opening of the polling station on polling day.
“There are 13 polling teams that will be manning 21 polling stations in the set constituencies and localities, of which nine are fixed and 12 are mobile stations,” Mujoro explained.
In order to ensure the effective delivery of electoral messaging for the voters in the affected areas, Mujoro said the commission rolled out a comprehensive voter education programme to ensure all registered voters are able to cast their votes in confidence, promote secrecy of the vote and reduce rejected ballots, as well as increase voter turnout.
Furthermore, Mujoro urged voters in the affected areas to take the opportunity to cast their votes at their nearest designated polling stations.
Also, he said, the commission has taken precautionary measures in line with ECN’s Covid-19 mitigation strategy to ensure the safety of staff and that of electorate – and will continue to adhere to safety measures throughout the polling process, as well as ensuring strict compliance with Covid-19 national guidelines.
The Windhoek High Court in December last year ordered a rerun of elections to take place in the Koës, Aroab and Stampriet local authorities, as well as the Mariental Rural constituency after the ECN brought an application before that court to have the ballots cast and the elections held on 25 November declared null and void after they determined some polling stations closed early and that wrong ballot papers were issued at others.
The parties contesting in the Koës local authority elections include Swapo, Landless People’s Movement (LPM), Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) and Popular Democratic Movement (PDM). Koës has registered 1 200 eligible voters.
Aroab has 1 167 eligible voters; LPM, PDM, IPC, Swapo and Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters are contesting the local authority vote.
The Mariental Rural constituency has 4 065 registered voters, while the Stampriet local authority has 1 199.
– ktjitemisa@nepc.com.na