Still no voters’ roll for parties

OPPOSITION parties are frustrated because they still have not received copies of the final voters’ roll, which has been available for public perusal at all 107 constituency offices countrywide since Monday already.

‘We have not received a copy, but are waiting urgently because we want to check if it has been corrected now,’ DTA Chairman Johan de Waal told The Namibian yesterday. The preliminary roll still listed the names of several prominent Namibians who had died over the past few years, such as Lazarus Kandara and former Speaker Dr Mosé Tjitendero. The roll contained 1,3 million names, which the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) had then corrected to 1,16 million, but only the final version of the roll will have the exact number of voters.Theo Mujoro, the Director of Operations at the ECN, told The Namibian yesterday that there was ‘a problem making electronic copies on CD-ROM, but by the end of today (yesterday) we will have copies ready for the parties’. On Tuesday, Mujoro had told The Namibian that ‘we are making copies since Monday and at the end of the day (Tuesday) we will dispatch them to political parties’.Libolly Haufiku, Director General for Administration for the RDP party, went to the ECN headquarters yesterday afternoon in an attempt to obtain a copy. ‘I was unsuccessful and that is annoying,’ Haufiku said. Attempts by The Namibian to obtain the exact number of registered voters from Mujoro at his office were fruitless. Other queries like the exact number of fixed and mobile polling stations and the number of ballot boxes to be used in the elections were left unanswered by his office, despite Mujoro’s promise to ‘respond later’.* Friday, November 27, which is the first polling day in the presidential and National Assembly elections, will NOT be a public holiday. ‘Although the Namibian Constitution in Article 32 (5)(a) allows the President to sign and promulgate any proclamation, Government feels that there is no need to declare Friday November 27 a public holiday,’ the Information Ministry said yesterday. ‘Voting takes place over two days and also outside working hours (until 21h00), which will allow all voters the opportunity to find time to exercise their democratic right to go and vote,’ the Ministry said in a statement.’Government wants to once again urge voters to approach the elections with a high degree of tolerance to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections in the Republic of Namibia.’