Registration on track in Kavango

RUNDU – The supplementary registration of voters in the Kavango Region is progressing well, despite the shortage of transport and inadequate registration material.

Most registration officials could not start on the first day of registration, 17 September, because of transport shortages.

As a result, a low turnout of potential voters was registered at the various registration points.

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN)’s co-ordinator in the Kavango Region, Thomas Shapi, informed Nampa on Wednesday that people only started queuing up in big numbers on Saturday, the third day of the two week registration period.

Shapi cited the registration point at Kehemu and Ndama informal settlements, where his officials worked up to one o’clock in the morning registering people because of the long queues.

Despite the shortages of material, the elections co-ordinator explained that the supplementary registration process has not come to a standstill, adding that on Wednesday his office received more material such as registration forms, printers, ink and pencils.

There are about 206 officials deployed all over the Kavango Region.

All of them successfully completed the five day training for the supplementary registration process of voters that kicked off countrywide last week Thursday.

The registration officials, who are divided into 40 teams, were deployed to all nine constituencies in the region to register people to vote in the 2009 Presidential and National Assembly elections, set for 27 and 28 November.