Windhoek
The Director of Elections at the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), Professor Paul Isaak, says the supplementary voter registration process is proceeding slowly because most people already registered during the general registration last year.
The supplementary voter registration, currently underway across the country, enables people who have moved or lost their cards, or have turned 18 recently, to register to partake in the regional and local authority elections slated for November.
A random visit to registration points in Windhoek this week revealed that most stations were experiencing a low turnout. Since the process started on Wednesday last week, most registration points registered less than 10 people, while others had processed just one potential voter, or none.
“We should not expect great numbers as the majority already registered during the general registration of voters conducted in March and September last year,” Isaak explained yesterday. Isaak said the ECN has a target of registering about 80 000 people countrywide.
He said the ECN is currently in the process of compiling a report on the registration process to date. He however strongly dismissed claims that the ECN did not properly sensitise potential voters about the process. Many people apparently do not know about the exercise.
“It is possible that there will be a low turnout at certain points. It could be that others might come at the last minute, but we have gone on radio stations in different languages to encourage people to register. I cannot give you a report on the exact reasons why people are not registering, but we are doing our best to encourage people to register,” said the ECN chief.
Isaak says people would only be allowed to vote in areas where they are registered and that the ECN will not conduct any registration or voting outside the country, as is the case for the National Assembly and presidential elections. The electoral body successfully conducted the third general voter registration last year, with over one million people registering inside the country and abroad. The supplementary voter registration ends on August 22.