RDP worried about ‘repeat voting’

THE opposition Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) is concerned that Namibians who cast their votes on Friday might vote again at the end of the month unless the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has found security mechanisms to prevent that.

In an open letter to ECN Director of Elections Moses Ndjarakana yesterday, the RDP said the ‘possibility of the citizens who voted on Friday, November 13, voting again on November 27 and 28, after returning from sea exists without the necessary security measures in place’. About 2 200 seafarers voted at the coast on Friday as well as about 900 Namibians abroad.’Equally voters can, after their vote on November 27 and 28, travel to another polling station and cast another vote under the provisions of a tendered ballot,’ RDP Secretary General Jesaya Nyamu said in the letter, a copy of which was sent to the media.From past experiences, voters with intentions to cheat normally had ways to remove the indelible and invisible ink, according to Nyamu. ‘What mechanisms are in place to guarantee that no such rigging takes place? The RDP would, in the interest of a free and transparent election process, very strongly recommend that the Electoral Commission urgently put the process in place for a voter’s card to be punched with a hole or some identification mark after a vote has been cast,’ the RDP requested.Attempts to obtain comment from the ECN were unsuccessful as the ECN management was in a meeting to scrutinise media applications for accreditation for the elections, an official at the ECN told The Namibian. Today the first group of foreign election observers will be welcomed by the ECN. The observers come from Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. A group of election observers from the European Union (EU) is expected in Windhoek on Friday.