UDF demands vote recount at Dâures

SUPPORTERS of the United Democratic Front (UDF) marched to the Dâures Constituency Office at Okombahe yesterday where they handed over a petition demanding a recount of votes cast in this constituency during last month’s regional elections.

Ever since the voting figures were released the day after the closing of polling stations on Saturday, November 27, the UDF has questioned Swapo’s 23-vote victory in the constituency. This is the first time since Independence that the UDF has lost Dâures to another party. The UDF is demanding a recount or verification of the results, especially those ballots counted by ‘Team 302’, which allegedly arrived at the verification centre two hours late.’The verification should take place in the presence of all parties concerned,’ the petition read. ‘The non-verification of results may cause civil unrest,’ it stated. The party demanded a response from the ECN within 24 hours, failing which it would approach the courts.Local sources told The Namibian that Team 302 was working in the Otjimbingwe area, ‘where Swapo has no say because it is dominated by Nudo and DTA’.They further claim that, when the verification centre at Uis closed on Sunday, the UDF’s Dâures candidate, Apius Auchab, was ‘far in the lead’ with 1 371 votes compared to Swapo candidate Erenst Katjiku’s total, which they claim to have been ‘in the 900s’.The UDF supporters claim that because of alleged car problems, Team 302 allegedly gave the results ‘orally, over the telephone’ to one of the election officers.This ‘oral’ verification of Otjimbingwe’s votes allegedly resulted in Katjiku winning the constituency by 1 394 votes, 23 more than Auchab.’After they announced the outcome, and after the verification centre was closed, this Team 302 arrived, and then we never saw their ballots, we were just told that Swapo won. This is unfair and unacceptable,’ they told The Namibian.Erenst Katjiku was sworn in as member of the all-Swapo Erongo Regional Council last week.