If there ever was an Election Disaster, then it was here in Namibia on 28 November 2014.
Voters were eager to vote and gathered at the polling stations from early in the morning, only to stand in rows in the sun for hours on end, because of numerous problems with the newly adopted voting system.
First off many of the polling stations did not open in time at 7h00 some did not open at all. Next the verification system did not work properly and they resorted to manual verification of voters from the roll. This caused delays in the process, as many of the ECN personnel had reading difficulties. The end result was that at closing time there were still hundreds of voters waiting to cast their votes and the time limit was overreached by many hours. In fact, at two polling stations in Windhoek voting went on until the next day after sunrise, which is completely against the law.
Here are some tweets from electionwatchnamibia:
The mobile polling station at Oude Rust Oord in Windhoek West never opened. Station was stuck at Pionierspark Old Age home past 22h00.
The mobile polling station at Aris in Windhoek Rural never arrived. People there never voted. They ask when ECN will allow them to vote
Swapo demanding explanations from ECN. Clearly not happy. Many supporters denied the right to vote in the party's heartlands.
Callers on NBC Oshiwambo service complaining of being disenfranchised by slowness of yesterday's vote
And the list goes on and on.
So now other parties join the ranks of RDP, calling for a new election date.
Voters were eager to vote and gathered at the polling stations from early in the morning, only to stand in rows in the sun for hours on end, because of numerous problems with the newly adopted voting system.
First off many of the polling stations did not open in time at 7h00 some did not open at all. Next the verification system did not work properly and they resorted to manual verification of voters from the roll. This caused delays in the process, as many of the ECN personnel had reading difficulties. The end result was that at closing time there were still hundreds of voters waiting to cast their votes and the time limit was overreached by many hours. In fact, at two polling stations in Windhoek voting went on until the next day after sunrise, which is completely against the law.
Here are some tweets from electionwatchnamibia:
The mobile polling station at Oude Rust Oord in Windhoek West never opened. Station was stuck at Pionierspark Old Age home past 22h00.
The mobile polling station at Aris in Windhoek Rural never arrived. People there never voted. They ask when ECN will allow them to vote
Swapo demanding explanations from ECN. Clearly not happy. Many supporters denied the right to vote in the party's heartlands.
Callers on NBC Oshiwambo service complaining of being disenfranchised by slowness of yesterday's vote
And the list goes on and on.
So now other parties join the ranks of RDP, calling for a new election date.
"We
therefore call for the immediate resignation of Professor Paul Isaack as
director of elections, the calling off of the current sham process and
for the holding of what will be a truly credible, fair and worthy
elections on the nearest possible date. - See more at:
http://www.namibian.com.na/indexx.php?id=20833&page_type=story_detail&category_id=1#sthash.9mP1Z3jz.dpuf
"We
therefore call for the immediate resignation of Professor Paul Isaack as
director of elections, the calling off of the current sham process and
for the holding of what will be a truly credible, fair and worthy
elections on the nearest possible date. - See more at:
http://www.namibian.com.na/indexx.php?id=20833&page_type=story_detail&category_id=1#sthash.9mP1Z3jz.dpuf
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