Namibia Set For Africa’s First Electronic- Election

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Namibia is set to vote in Africa’s first electronic ballot on Friday in a general election that will usher in a new president and quotas to put more women in government.

But opposition parties have launched an 11th-hour challenge to the use of the Indian-made e-voting machines, claiming the lack of a paper trail could open the door to vote rigging.

They are calling for the elections to be delayed until February. A court is expected to rule on the issue Wednesday, but commentators say the vote is almost certain to go ahead.

If and when it does, Namibians will chose 72 members of the national assembly and one of nine presidential candidates, ranging from the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters to the white minority Republican Party.

Around 1.2 million Namibians are eligible to cast their ballots at nearly 4,000 electronic voting stations across this vast desert nation.

But there is only one likely winner.SWAPO candidate and current prime minister, 73-year-old Hage Geingob, has run on a platform of “peace, stability and prosperity” and is sure to become the new president.

SWAPO was forged from the embers of the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggle and has won every election since Namibia’s independence from South Africa in 1990.

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“I was born SWAPO,” said Hosea, a Windhoek student who vowed to vote for the party of liberation this Friday.

According to pollsters, the party remains hugely popular.

Courtesy: Times of India