The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) yesterday confirmed it has detected some discrepancies in the ballot paper packs supplied for next week’s regional council and local authority elections.
This comes after the Landless People’s Movement representative Ivan Skrywer last Friday wrote to the ECN demanding an urgent meeting with political parties amid the discovery of shortages and duplicated ballot papers at the government warehouse.
“The commission confirms the conclusion of the allocation and packing of ballot papers to the various teams in all constituencies and local authorities across the country. However, there were a few discrepancies in the supplied ballot packs detected,” the ECN’s statement reads.
It says this happened during the final stages of the internal distribution and quality control exercise, and was done in the presence of the representatives of political parties who participated in the ongoing process of verifying, distributing, packing and subsequently dispatching ballot materials to the regions at the ECN logistics store.
Chief electoral and referenda officer Peter Shaama says despite this incident, it has successfully dispatched sensitive materials under police escort to the Zambezi, Kavango East, Omaheke, Hardap, ||Kharas and Oshana regions as they are not affected.
The ECN says it has detected the underallocation and overallocation of ballot papers to some polling stations, and the presence of duplicates in ballot packs designated for both regional council and local authority ballots.
It has also detected overall discrepancies for some constituencies and local authorities in the Kavango West, Ohangwena, Khomas, Omusati, Oshikoto, Otjozondjupa, Kunene and Erongo regions, impacting the quantities required at specific polling stations.
The ECN has requested a comprehensive report outlining what happened from the contracted printing company, South Africa-based UniPrint Global.
The commission has also requested the company to employ mitigating measures to immediately remedy the shortcomings, as well as confirmation of production timelines to ensure the correct ballot papers are delivered to the ECN in time.
Shaama says this must be done urgently due to the deployment of teams scheduled for 23 November.
The ECN has further directed the delivery of the rectified ballot papers before 19 November, and has assured the public and all stakeholders it has taken decisive action to guarantee the correct quantities of ballot materials are secured for next week.
“The supplier has committed to rectifying the discrepancies and delivering the correct quantities of ballot papers in the country at its own cost on 18 November at Hosea Kutako International Airport,” Shaama says.
He says the exact time will be communicated to stakeholders once it has been confirmed.
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