ECN calls for objections on //Kharas voters' register

LUQMAN CLOETE and SAKEUS IIKELA

THE Electoral Commission of Namibia has called on political parties and organisations aggrieved over the voters' registration process in the //Kharas and Hardap regions to lodge their objections formally.

The commission's chief electoral officer, Theo Mujoro, yesterday said the provisional voters' register would be published between 30 September and 5 October, after the conclusion of the supplementary voters' registration process ending tomorrow.

The objections should indicate the names of people on the provisional voters' register who are “not entitled or qualified to be registered to vote” in that constituency, Mujoro said.

On Friday, Landless People's Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi claimed Swapo was transporting “Oshiwambo-speaking people” from the northern parts of the country to be registered in the two regions with the view of voting for Swapo in those regions.

Although Swartbooi did not provide any evidence to substantiate his claims, he said he was informed of this by credible sources.

For this reason, Swartbooi said the voters' registration process in the two regions should be cancelled.

“When we speak about election fraud . . . the evidence is there that in a small town, suddenly there are these people who look different . . ,” he said.

In an audio message circulated on social media on Wednesday, Swartbooi said the alleged fraud was a declaration of civil war by Swapo.

Video clips also emerged on social media on Friday depicting some LPM members confronting a group of people registering at a Keetmanshoop library being used as a voters' registration station.

The police had to be called in to calm the situation down.

Augustinus Ucham, the ECN's coordinator for the //Kharas region, yesterday said the people filmed in the widely circulated videos were at the library well before 19h00. Ucham said the registration official had to close the gate to the library after some LPM members confronted them, demanding answers on why only “dark-skinned people” were at the concerned registration point after 19h00.

“These eligible voters came to the polling station before the cut-off time of 19h00, thus we allowed them to register. But when the huge crowd of LPM members started protesting . . . we closed the polling station and told some people . . . to come back the following day,” he said.

Ucham did not want to comment on allegations that the people were being transported from the north.