Niël Terblanché
THE rerun of the Regional Council and Local Authority elections in the Mariental Rural Constituency and the towns of Koës, Aroab, Stampriet was successfully concluded on Friday.
The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) was declared the winner in the three local authority elections while the party’s candidate for the Mariental Rural Constituency, Deensia Swartbooi, won the election to the Regional Council with a comfortable margin.
According to a statement issued by the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), the elections were conducted in a calm and peaceful atmosphere. No untoward incidences were recorded at the polling stations during the election process.
Voters were lined up at the various polling stations when it opened up at 07:00 and when the process came to an end at 21:00, 4 215 people participated and made their mark next to the candidate or party of their choice.
A total of 687 people voted in the Aroab local authority election of which 293 voted for the LPM, 26 voted for the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF), 132 for the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) and 236 people voted for the Swapo Party.
In Koës, the voter turnout totalled 737 with 30 people making their mark with the Independent Patriots for Change (IPM), 376 voted for the LPM, 57 for the PDM, and 274 for the Swapo Party.
In Stampriet a total of 695 people participated in the process with 353 casting their vote for the LPM, 70 for the PDM, and 272 for the Swapo Party.
In the election for the Mariental Rural Constituency Councillor, 2 096 people participated in the election.
The candidate of the PDM, Stefanus Bloodstaan received 97 votes, Simon Kooper of the Swapo Pary received 854 votes, Deensia Swartbooi of the LPM received 1 099 votes while the independent candidate, Desmond Tjipanga received a total of 46 votes.
The ECN congratulated all the duly elected councillors and representatives of the various parties on their success and also thanked the polling officials for the dedication to delivering a credible election.
“The ECN extends its profound gratitude to all voters that turned up at the polling stations to cast their votes as it is through their participation that democracy prevailed,” the statement concluded.
