No voting at sea

NO provision has been made by the Namibian Electoral Commission (NEC) to enable the country’s estimated 700 sea-going workers to vote at sea in the Presidential and Parliamentary elections today and tomorrow.

Johannes Kapembe, Chief of the NEC Erongo Constituent, told The Namibian yesterday that most companies had indicated they would bring workers on land to allow them to vote. He said, though, that the NEC could not grant a request to give preference to sea-going voters.”They would have to fall in line like everybody else,” Kapembe said.Cleopas Ngwena, regional organiser of the Namibian Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau), said yesterday that his office had not received any complaints from workers that they would not be able to vote.He said several companies had sent written confirmation to the union office of arrangements in place to accommodate sea-going voters.The only problem listed was the research vessel of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources that had left for sea on November 8.”I am not sure if any arrangement had been made to bring the vessel back,” said the union official.Overall Kapembe was happy with preparations by his team of 432 polling officers to set up the 54 polling stations in Erongo.”We have not encountered any problems so far.All the material is ready,” he said as he was monitoring the work at Swakopmund.Most voters at Swakopmund that The Namibian spoke to wanted to see people turning out in their thousands, and that the process would be free and fair.A resident who preferred to remain anonymous said she had not yet decided who to vote for as none of the parties had “won her over”.She was definitely going to cast her vote for the sake of democracy.Elifas //Khaoseb and Sophia Motinga, UDF Town Councillors, said it was a very important election and encouraged especially the youth and women to vote.They wanted to see the NEC remain neutral and applying the rules.”We feel more people would vote than in the Local Authority elections in May,” they said.Freddy Kaukungua said his hope was that people would be able to vote for the party of their choice without being intimidated as the country would only benefit from it.”I am going to vote and I hope thousands more would do the same,” said Almuth Styles.She would like to see more balance between the results and not a vast majority for one party.Riaan W Gaseb, a student at the Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT) at Arandis, said it would be his first time to vote.”I would like to see fairness and that my vote counts.”He felt there was a lot of awareness among young people about the election and that many would be voting.Swakopmund Deputy Mayor John Ngolombe’s wish is that the election would be free and fair.”It is very important that Namibians vote in their thousands.All the parties have done their homework.It is now up to the electorate to pass their votes.”He said, though, that the NEC could not grant a request to give preference to sea-going voters.”They would have to fall in line like everybody else,” Kapembe said.Cleopas Ngwena, regional organiser of the Namibian Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau), said yesterday that his office had not received any complaints from workers that they would not be able to vote.He said several companies had sent written confirmation to the union office of arrangements in place to accommodate sea-going voters.The only problem listed was the research vessel of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources that had left for sea on November 8.”I am not sure if any arrangement had been made to bring the vessel back,” said the union official.Overall Kapembe was happy with preparations by his team of 432 polling officers to set up the 54 polling stations in Erongo.”We have not encountered any problems so far.All the material is ready,” he said as he was monitoring the work at Swakopmund.Most voters at Swakopmund that The Namibian spoke to wanted to see people turning out in their thousands, and that the process would be free and fair.A resident who preferred to remain anonymous said she had not yet decided who to vote for as none of the parties had “won her over”.She was definitely going to cast her vote for the sake of democracy.Elifas //Khaoseb and Sophia Motinga, UDF Town Councillors, said it was a very important election and encouraged especially the youth and women to vote.They wanted to see the NEC remain neutral and applying the rules.”We feel more people would vote than in the Local Authority elections in May,” they said.Freddy Kaukungua said his hope was that people would be able to vote for the party of their choice without being intimidated as the country would only benefit from it.”I am going to vote and I hope thousands more would do the same,” said Almuth Styles.She would like to see more balance between the results and not a vast majority for one party.Riaan W Gaseb, a student at the Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT) at Arandis, said it would be his first time to vote.”I would like to see fairness and that my vote counts.”He felt there was a lot of awareness among young people about the election and that many would be voting.Swakopmund Deputy Mayor John Ngolombe’s wish is that the election would be free and fair.”It is very important that Namibians vote in their thousands.All the parties have done their homework.It is now up to the electorate to pass their votes.”