Foreign election observers set to arrive next week

SIXTEEN days before the parliamentary and presidential elections on November 27 and 28, billboards are now being put up in various towns by various political parties, making it more obvious to the public that elections are just around the corner.

So far, election momentum appears to have been limited.Fishermen at sea will be the first to vote and they will cast their ballots tomorrow at Walvis Bay and Lüderitz. Another indication that elections are just around the corner is the fact that foreign election observers will arrive in Namibia from Tuesday, with 60 observers of the Executive Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) expected.’The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) is aware of a limited number of local and foreign institutions that have confirmed their intentions to deploy observer teams,’ said Rukee Tjingaete, media advisor at the ECN yesterday. ‘Although we believe that more applications will come as we edge closer to polling dates, a second group has been confirmed and they are 25 observers of the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC Countries (ECF). They will deploy 25 members and they will arrive next week Friday, November 20,’ Tjingaete added.’A number of European embassies have also indicated that they will be represented under the auspices of the EU Observer Delegation and the full details will be provided at a later stage. ‘The Namibia Institute for Democracy (NID) has informed us that it will deploy about 287 observers throughout the country, while the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) will deploy approximately 40 observers.’The ECN is expecting more applications for accreditation from other local entities like the Namibia Council of Churches (CCN) and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS). Application forms for election observer status must be sent to the ECN for prior approval and they can be downloaded from the ECN website at www.ecn.na.