WINDHOEK – Young people make up a significant number of voters registered to participate in this year’s national general elections.
Provisional figures put the number of registered youth voters at 508 459 or 44 percent of the total 1 162 366 people registered with the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) in the just completed voter registration exercise. ECN chairperson Notemba Tjipueja said the high number of young voters indicate that Namibian youths have come of age. “Clearly, the youth have come on board and are seriously taking part in the affairs of the nation,” Tjipueja said last Friday, adding that it is “no accident that the youth are taking part in the electoral processes at this point in time.”
The ECN charirperson says they have also detected about 1 747 duplicate registrants or persons who registered more than once, through fingerprints that appeared twice on the automatic voting machine. She said they would remove the duplicates when the final figures of registered voters are released later in the year.
The voter’s roll is expected to be gazetted on May 27 this year.
The voter registration drive for the Presidential and National Assembly elections slated for November this year started on January 15 and ended on March 3. Inside the country the ECN registered 1 158 925 voters, while another 3 441 people were registered outside the country, which brings the total number of registered voters to 1 162 366. The high turnout of youths is attributed to the ECN’s creative programmes that specifically targeted the youth. “The ECN has long known that the youth love technology. Unlike the older generations, the youth is ready to embrace the introduction of new technologies. Therefore, the ECN has engaged the youth using social media platforms and stimulated the youth’s love of fun and music at road shows across the country.
This has borne fruit as evident from the third general registration of voters and the results are there for all to see,” Tjipueja said.
The ECN also announced that 188 855 people registered through sworn statements in respect of identity, while about 106 313 registered through sworn statements in respect of citizenship.
The registration drive involved 700 teams, including fixed, semi-fixed and mobile teams at 3 852 registration points with 3 866 temporary registration officials, including 58 registration officials at diplomatic missions who were accompanied by 1 268 police officers.
Tjipueja confidently reported that the general registration of voters took place in a peaceful and calm atmosphere across Namibia. She also announced that as of April 3-9 this year, the Political Liaison Committee will convene where political parties would have a platform to object to any cases regarding the voter registration results or the process itself. She also reported that the criminal case involving Angolan nationals who were arrested during the registration process for attempting to register as Namibian citizens in the Kavango regions is still under police investigation.
The 2014 voter registration process was the very first time in the history of independent Namibia that the ECN used a fully-fledged biometrics voter registration system. Section 15 of the Electoral Act, Act 24 of 1992 (as amended) provides for the conduct of general registration of voters at intervals of 10 years.
The first general voter registration process took place in 1992 and was followed by the second in 2003.
By Albertina Nakale