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Tuesday, April 30, 2002 - Web posted at 9:15:24 pm GMT

Voter campaign funds 'insufficient'

THE Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has had to ask several donor countries to fund its voter registration programme because its budget allocation is insufficient.

Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Mose Tjitendero told the National Assembly that the ECN was grossly underfunded.
He said that the budgeted amount of N$32,9 million was some N$16 million below what had initially been requested.

Tjitendero said the ECN was exploring various avenues to supplement its funds for voter registration and had already submitted project proposals to the Swedish and Dutch governments through the National Planning Commission.

Tjitendero called on the National Assembly to approve the N$32,9 million budget of the ECN.

The budget has increased from N$6,1 million in the previous year, mainly because a general voter registration campaign is due to take place this year.

The law provides that new registration be undertaken after every 10 years. The first general voter registration was carried out in September 1990.

The Speaker said the budget also covered the holding of Local Authority elections due in February next year. The holding of the elections are, however, subject to approval by the Minister of Local Government who earlier proposed that the elections be held in December 2003.

Tjitendero said the budget normally increases during election years and thus it was not abnormal for the ECN to seek N$32,9 million in funds.

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