Returning Officer for the Moses //Garoeb Constituency by-elections, Rakondjerua Kavari, said it’s all systems go for the elections slated for Friday.
He was speaking to Nampa at the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) Head Office during the verification process of the logistics and materials on Thursday.
“We are confident that the elections will be held under free and fair conditions. We just finished issuing vehicles to all the teams. We are now busy giving them sensitive and none sensitive material and logistics,” he said.
He informed Nampa that there are five candidates participating, including two independent candidates (Moses Hengobe and Ndalifilwa Hashoongo), with the remaining three representing the Swapo Party (Stefanus Ndengu), Independent Patriots for Change (Moses Mwandingi) and the Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters (Shinime Nakale).
Kavari said they had not experienced any major challenges except that the preparation for the bye-election took place during the festive season.
“It is not easy because of different holidays and people go for holidays in different places. That has been a bit of a challenge for us to train our officials. However, we were proactive enough to squeeze in training before the holidays began,” he said.
He noted that the holiday season is still on and they may experience voter apathy as some voters might still be out of town.
“Fortunately, this situation affects everybody because no one will say voter apathy puts A or B at an advantage or disadvantage. Unfortunately, the constitution says the bye-election has to take place within 90 days,” he explained.
The ECN says it will have 134 officials that will be manning the 25 polling stations.
Meanwhile, IPC representative, Kavivarua Kavetamunisa, told Nampa that they were happy with the preparations for the elections.
“Everything looks good, nothing seems amiss from the equipment. We are ready for the election,” he said.
His views were echoed by Jonatam Ashipolo of the Swapo Party, who said the verification went well and that hey are happy with the ECN’s preparations for the bye-election.
The bye-election was necessitated by the death of Constituency Councillor, Aili Venonya, in October 2022.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
