Ballot papers were sufficient – ECN

Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) chief electoral and referenda officer Peter Shaama says ballot papers were sufficient.

He says this despite reports from some polling stations in the Kavango East, Omusati, Oshana, Khomas, //Kharas and Omaheke regions that ran out of ballot papers on Wednesday.

Some voters reportedly left polling stations after they were told the polling stations had run out of ballot papers.

“We want to emphasise here that we have sufficient ballot papers in the country,” Shaama said in a media statement on Thursday morning.

Shaama said ECN officials redistributed ballot papers to polling stations where shortfalls have been identified.

“Therefore, we wish to assure the Namibian nation that we have sufficient supply of ballot papers and all necessary steps have been put in place to facilitate the required transfers to the teams in need,” he said.

Shaama added that some polling stations ran low on ballot papers because of higher voter turnout as individuals were allowed to vote at any polling station.

“However, so many factors could delay the process, including human factors,” he said.

He said there were instances where election officials left voters unattended despite being in the queue.

“In some instances, we directed the teams to go back to the polling stations in question to make sure they cover such voters,” he said.

He said the ECN attended to every incident that has been reported so far.

“The commission is taking any complaint received seriously and is working on modalities to assist all eligible to cast their ballots,” he said.

ECN announced that 1.4 million people registered for the presidential and National Assembly elections yesterday and that it had printed 1.6 million ballot papers.