Martin Endjala
All voters with voter cards older than ten years will need to register again in order to participate in the highly anticipated 2024 National Assembly and Presidential elections slated for 27 November this year.
Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) Chairperson Elsie Nghikembua, announced this during the launch of the Electoral Calendar and Democracy Awareness campaign on last week.
Nghikembua informed that voter cards expire after a period of ten years, thus urging such cardholders to register as well as all eligible voters.
She said this will be the seventh Presidential and National Assembly election that will be directed, managed, supervised, and conducted by the ECN.
General registration of voters is set to commence on 3 June 2024 and will end on 1 August 2024. This year’s election is poised to be history in the making as the ruling party is expected to face tough competition from opposition parties.
Meanwhile, ECN has also announced statutory dates for the nomination of independent candidates if there are any, which is 14 October while political parties and Parliamentary lists are set for 16 October. Voting abroad, sea-going personnel members and members of the armed forces is on 13 November 2024.
ECN Commissioner Gerson Tjihenuna emphasised that for one to be an eligible voter they must be a registered voter, adding that it is for this reason that the ECN has an education campaign to ensure maximum participation in electoral processes.
Tjihenuna extended a call to all eligible voters across the country to participate in the educational campaigns to be rolled out and help prepare the public for the upcoming elections to make sure that their vote counts.
The ECN is determined to ensure that no one is left out of such a historic event for the country.
This year’s elections will see the return of ballot papers following concerns and fallout of Electronic Voting Machines, coupled with alleged tempering of results which saw various opposition political parties taking ECN to court in the 2019 election.
