Delay in voting in the UK

NAMIBIANS living in the United Kingdom were unable to vote on Monday because ballot papers and a secret stamp to mark their authenticity did not arrive on time.

Voting eventually got underway at the Namibian High Commission yesterday. However one disgruntled Namibian told The Namibian yesterday that those who lived outside of London had to take time off work and travel quite a distance to vote on Monday, and that it was not possible for them to return yesterday.”This is a historical election and now we can’t vote,” said Ben Cloete, a social worker who had to travel about 70 miles by train to vote.”We are very disappointed.This is the first time I won’t be able to take part in an election.”Originally the Electoral Commission only allocated one day for voting in London.Elections Director Phillemon Kanime put Monday’s delay down to “poor arrangements” by those in charge abroad.He said officials failed to collect the ballot papers from the airport in time.Another election source indicated that the bag containing the ballot papers ended up among the lost luggage in Paris after its identification tag fell off.A voter in London told The Namibian that by 10h00 yesterday, voting had not yet begun.However, Kanime said later that there were no problems with the voting process yesterday.He said very few Namibians had been registered to vote in the UK.However one disgruntled Namibian told The Namibian yesterday that those who lived outside of London had to take time off work and travel quite a distance to vote on Monday, and that it was not possible for them to return yesterday.”This is a historical election and now we can’t vote,” said Ben Cloete, a social worker who had to travel about 70 miles by train to vote.”We are very disappointed.This is the first time I won’t be able to take part in an election.”Originally the Electoral Commission only allocated one day for voting in London.Elections Director Phillemon Kanime put Monday’s delay down to “poor arrangements” by those in charge abroad.He said officials failed to collect the ballot papers from the airport in time.Another election source indicated that the bag containing the ballot papers ended up among the lost luggage in Paris after its identification tag fell off.A voter in London told The Namibian that by 10h00 yesterday, voting had not yet begun.However, Kanime said later that there were no problems with the voting process yesterday.He said very few Namibians had been registered to vote in the UK.