Govt prints double amount of ballots

THE Electoral Commission of Namibia has taken delivery of the ballot papers for the upcoming presidential and general elections.

The 3,6 million papers – 1,8 million for each election – were printed by NamPrint. The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Namibia, Victor Tonchi, said 977 742 Namibians have registered to vote in the upcoming presidential and general elections.That includes 512 360 women.Director of Elections Phillemon Kanime said the Commission decided to print an extra 1,65 million ballots to make sure that no polling stations would run short.”During the local and regional authority elections, we made a mistake [in the Otjinene constituency].It was an eye-opener and we had to improve.That mistake should not be made again,” said Kanime.In the May local authority elections, electoral officials in the Otjinene constituency ran out of ballot papers while people were still waiting to vote.Voting was suspended and the by-election for the regional councillor postponed.Kanime said they printed 1,8 million ballots for each of the two elections as “a precaution”.”We don’t want to make the same mistakes.You should be happy with that,” Kanime said.The unused ballot papers will be returned to the ECN.Each registered party would be provided with a list of the ballot papers’ serial numbers and once polling was over, the ECN would account for each ballot paper issued – those used, unused and spoiled.Kanime said political parties were consulted before printing went ahead.The tendered ballot system made it impossible for the Elections Commission to know beforehand exactly how many voters would turn up at a particular polling station.The ballot papers were printed by NamPrint, in which ruling party Swapo has business interests.The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Namibia, Victor Tonchi, said 977 742 Namibians have registered to vote in the upcoming presidential and general elections.That includes 512 360 women.Director of Elections Phillemon Kanime said the Commission decided to print an extra 1,65 million ballots to make sure that no polling stations would run short.”During the local and regional authority elections, we made a mistake [in the Otjinene constituency].It was an eye-opener and we had to improve.That mistake should not be made again,” said Kanime.In the May local authority elections, electoral officials in the Otjinene constituency ran out of ballot papers while people were still waiting to vote.Voting was suspended and the by-election for the regional councillor postponed.Kanime said they printed 1,8 million ballots for each of the two elections as “a precaution”.”We don’t want to make the same mistakes.You should be happy with that,” Kanime said.The unused ballot papers will be returned to the ECN.Each registered party would be provided with a list of the ballot papers’ serial numbers and once polling was over, the ECN would account for each ballot paper issued – those used, unused and spoiled.Kanime said political parties were consulted before printing went ahead.The tendered ballot system made it impossible for the Elections Commission to know beforehand exactly how many voters would turn up at a particular polling station.The ballot papers were printed by NamPrint, in which ruling party Swapo has business interests.