Maria David
MANY of the seagoing personnel who are expected to vote on Wednesday were left waiting in queues after their companies failed to send the lists of names to the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN).
The lists are supposed to be used for the verification process to allow the electoral team to give them priority in voting, as they will be on duty on 27 November.
Oshana Regional Electoral Officer Amon-Oiva Haimbangu said they had to turn away many seagoing personnel due to a lack of proper documentation.
When Informanté visited the Oluno Community Hall in Ondangwa Urban, where the ECN polling station is located, some seagoing personnel were found making calls to their companies to send through their lists to enable them to vote.
According to Haimbangu, many companies have failed to send the list of those expected to vote during the special election, as they will be on duty on 27 November.
“We have only received three lists from seagoing personnel companies, while some companies are still sending their lists,” he said.
Haimbangu added that they cannot do anything in the meantime but wait for the lists to verify those who are to be on duty on election day.
He added that over 400 people from the security cluster and seagoing personnel have already cast their votes at the two polling stations.
The two polling stations are at Oshakati East, at the Oshakati Police Station, and Ondangwa Urban, at Oluno Community Hall.
Haimbangu urged all eligible voters to come out in numbers while the polling stations are still open.
Meanwhile, Presiding Officer at Ondangwa Urban in the Oshana Region, Immanuel Kalla, said the election process is progressing well despite a slight delay caused by the Voters Verification Device (VVD), which has now been sorted.
Kalla explained that they had to set up a new username for the VVD. However, the matter has been resolved, and they are proceeding well.
He said that over 200 people have already voted since the start of voting.
The voting process started at 07:00 and will run until 21:00.
