Electronic voting will take time: MPs

EXTENSIVE voter education is needed before electronic voting can be introduced in Namibia, some Swapo MPs said in the National Council on Wednesday.

The ruling party’s Bartholomeus Shangheta, who took the floor first during debate on the Electoral Amendment Bill, said electronic voting did not appear to be feasible for this year’s elections, as voters should be educated first on how the voting machines work.He said voter education was an expensive exercise.’It remains to be seen whether the Electoral Commission of Namibia will be able to deal with these challenges,’ he said. Namibia will hold its National Assembly and Presidential elections in November this year. Shangheta said these elections are very important for the country’s democracy and electronic voting should not be tested during these elections. ‘In light of the uncertainties that come with electronic voting and the level of our technical capacity and development, amongst other factors, the ECN should consider the introduction of electronic voting to start with local authority elections as test case,’ Shangheta suggested.He was supported by fellow Swapo MP Hilma Nikanor, who said even next year’s regional and local council elections would be too early to introduce the machines.’This machine, if not well introduced to the people and over a reasonable time allocated for training, it might even be intimidating, particularly to the elderly, or simply cause confusion,’ said Nikanor. Swapo’s Arama Martin called on political parties in Namibia to respect democracy.’Political parties need to uphold the rule of law and to comply with the provisions of the code of conduct so as to demonstrate political tolerance and maturity during their political campaigns,’ he urged.The three MPs supported the amendment bill, which is one of two bills currently being debated in the House.