Over 900 Namibians voting abroad

NAMIBIAN citizens abroad will vote tomorrow from 07h00 to 21h00 local time at 24 Namibian embassies.

It is the first time that Namibians studying or working in other countries will have the chance to vote outside the country’s boundaries.’We expect that Namibians in the Far East, like China and Malaysia, will be the first to enter the polling stations, as they find themselves probably several hours ahead of the rest of their fellow citizens at home and abroad,’ said Rukee Tjingaete, media consultant at the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) yesterday. ‘Those in the western parts of the world such as the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean may be last to vote on that day because of the different time zones. ‘We are extremely satisfied that appropriate and effective training was provided last week to overseas polling officials to conduct and supervise voting operations at foreign missions,’ said Theo Mujoro, ECN Director of Operations. In some cases, ECN staff from head office have been dispatched for temporary deployment at some of the missions abroad to assist there. All voting materials were sent to the 24 Namibian diplomatic missions in time. About 900 registered Namibians will vote in Angola, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, China, DR Congo, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania, Britain, USA, Zambia and Zimbabwe.