Swapo congress vote was secret, insists Damaseb

THE elections officer at the Swapo extraordinary congress last month has quashed suggestions that the secrecy of the ballot may have been compromised during the “audit” of ballot papers after voting had been completed.

But Petrus Damaseb did disclose that “advice” he received from the Swapo secretariat on how voting should take place could have provided a window into who voted for whom had he not rejected it. Damaseb, of the law firm Conradie & Damaseb, said in an interview last week that only the voting results of the first four people to cast a ballot could be said to be traceable.”The only people where you can actually see how they voted are those four – the candidates themselves and the President [Sam Nujoma].”But, for the rest of them, including the central committee, you can never tell who voted [for whom].”Damaseb was speaking in an interview about how the election was handled and was asked whether the auditing – where the serial numbers of the ballot papers were thoroughly checked and reconciled with the counterfoils – had ensured that no foul play took place.Some people also questioned why the counting, involving slightly more than 500 voters, took so long.to complete.Damaseb said each ballot paper had been held up to the video cameras and to the polling agents of the three candidates to check.The serial number was then read to the auditors who entered it into the computer.Asked whether the serial number could not be traced to who had filled out the ballot, Damaseb said: “Specifically, I made sure that they [congress delegates] did not come in in a certain order.”I was encouraged or advised by the secretariat that the people should vote in the order in which they appear on the voters’ roll, which is first the Central Committee and so on.””I said ‘no’, it compromises the secrecy of the ballot,” said Damaseb, who accepted the job only on condition that he was allowed to run the election independently.”Actually there was chaos, unfortunately.But it was good for me anyway, because it assured the secrecy of the ballot.But there is no way you could tell who voted how.There is just no way because people came in randomly.”Had people voted in the order that the secretariat had proposed, it would have worried some who feared retribution, considering that the ballot papers are kept by the ruling party.Damaseb said the counting had been transparent and had been recorded by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) cameras.Damaseb, of the law firm Conradie & Damaseb, said in an interview last week that only the voting results of the first four people to cast a ballot could be said to be traceable.”The only people where you can actually see how they voted are those four – the candidates themselves and the President [Sam Nujoma].”But, for the rest of them, including the central committee, you can never tell who voted [for whom].”Damaseb was speaking in an interview about how the election was handled and was asked whether the auditing – where the serial numbers of the ballot papers were thoroughly checked and reconciled with the counterfoils – had ensured that no foul play took place.Some people also questioned why the counting, involving slightly more than 500 voters, took so long.to complete.Damaseb said each ballot paper had been held up to the video cameras and to the polling agents of the three candidates to check.The serial number was then read to the auditors who entered it into the computer.Asked whether the serial number could not be traced to who had filled out the ballot, Damaseb said: “Specifically, I made sure that they [congress delegates] did not come in in a certain order.”I was encouraged or advised by the secretariat that the people should vote in the order in which they appear on the voters’ roll, which is first the Central Committee and so on.””I said ‘no’, it compromises the secrecy of the ballot,” said Damaseb, who accepted the job only on condition that he was allowed to run the election independently.”Actually there was chaos, unfortunately.But it was good for me anyway, because it assured the secrecy of the ballot.But there is no way you could tell who voted how.There is just no way because people came in randomly.”Had people voted in the order that the secretariat had proposed, it would have worried some who feared retribution, considering that the ballot papers are kept by the ruling party.Damaseb said the counting had been transparent and had been recorded by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) cameras.