Swakopmund
Mayor of Swakopmund Juuso Kambueshe was elected as councillor of the Swakopmund Constituency on Friday in an election hailed as free and fair despite a disappointing voter turnout.
Out of 29 400 registered voters at the town, only a handful 4 238 cast their votes during the by-election that took off at a slow pace at the coastal resort town.
Kambueshe managed to bag almost two thirds of the votes – that translates to 2 621 votes – while his closest DTA rival Christa Magrietha Hochobes took home 762 votes. In third place was Marius !Uwu-Gaeb of UDF, who received 497 votes, while Nudo candidate, Uahimisa Kaapehi, received 358 votes.
Twenty fixed polling stations were set up for the election to speed up the process and ensure shorter queues that are more convenient for the electorate.
Speaking on Friday, the Director of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) Professor Paul Isaak said the election was conducted in a free and fair manner and was therefore a true reflection of the voters’ choice.
“It is hard to say why there was such a poor turnout though. Maybe it was because it was a normal working day or maybe because it was the end of the month. We hope this does not happen in the next major election in November,” Isaak said of the low turnout. He added that political parties would have to pull up their socks and work harder to get their people to the polls.
He added that the technical aspect of this election was also an “improvement compared to the Presidential and National Assembly elections held last year”.
The election was held to replace the late Germina Shitaleni, who served as the Swakopmund Constituency councillor before her untimely death in March this year due to cancer.