A JOINT Election Observer Mission of the Electoral Support Network of Southern Africa (ESN-SA) and Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) has called for key improvements to Namibia’s electoral processes following that country’s disputed polls.
South West Africa People’s Organisation’s Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah became Namibia’s first female president after being declared victor in the disputed polls.
Namibia’s main opposition party Independent Patriots for Change has already filed papers with the electoral court demanding access to tallies for all ballots cast and counted in last month’s election.
In a preliminary statement issued recently, the joint observer mission said Namibia’s polls were affected by logistical challenges which saw ballot papers missing in some areas.
“However, logistical issues threatened to undermine the voting process. Shortages of essential materials, including ballot papers, caused delays at some polling stations. Malfunctioning voter verification devices added to the challenges,” the mission said.
In 2023 during Zimbabwe’s general election, President Emmerson Mnangagwa issued a proclamation to permit voting to continue into a second day following delays in delivering ballot papers to many polling units.
“Observers linked some of these problems to a legal provision allowing voters to cast ballots outside their registered constituencies, which strained ECN [Electoral Commission of Namibia] resources and complicated ballot distribution.
“Mobile voters moving across constituencies in search of shorter queues made it difficult for the ECN to predict where additional ballot papers would be required,” the mission said.
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“At some of the polling stations visited, voting was delayed due to various challenges, including ballot paper shortages, malfunctioning of the voter verification devices and malfunctioning of the ultraviolet light detection devices.
“In some instances, presiding officers did not consistently follow the procedure that voters could be verified using electronic voter rolls in cases where the voter verification machine malfunctioned as was the case at Greenwell Bus Stop No 32 (opposite Evelyn Court) where voting stopped for over an hour due to the malfunctioning of the voter verification device only to resume after the intervention of the returning officer assigned to cover the polling station.
The mission implored ECN to ensure the availability of back-up voter verification devices and ultraviolet light detection machines to prevent disruptions caused by equipment failure.
