Opposition claims irregularities
2009-11-28 22:30
Windhoek - Polling stations in Namibia closed late Saturday after
two days of voting in national and presidential elections expected to
return the long-ruling Swapo to power despite a tough challenge from a
new breakaway party who denounced irregularities.
"All polling
stations have closed, except a few where there were still voters
queuing", Theo Mujoro, deputy director of operations of the Electoral
Commission of Namibia (ECN) told AFP.
Counting starts directly
after closing and will continue through the night. The first polling
results were expected by noon on Sunday.
Four opposition parties,
including the breakaway party Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP),
claimed late Saturday that irregularities occurred during the two days
of voting.
"The so-called indelible ink put on the finger of
voters could be washed off at several voting stations (and) one mobile
polling station in the northern Ohangwena Region, did not put the
official stamp of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) on ballot
papers, which makes them spoilt votes", Jesaya Nyamu, secretary general
of RDP, told reporters.
"We notified the ECN about these and
other incidents, but no action was taken," Nyamu said, flanked by a
representative of three other opposition parties.
"Our four
parties will compile a dossier about all irregularities and make them
public early next week," he added, "the credibility of free and fair
elections is compromised."
Voters roll worry
Libolly Haufiku, administrative boss
of RDP, also reported that "the biggest worry" was the different
figures of eligible voters given by the ECN.
"There are now
822 344 voters on the roll we received on the CD-ROM Thursday, two
weeks ago the previous CD-ROM had 1 181 835 voters and the ECN declared
earlier this month there were 1.16 million voters on their roll and in
October they declared they had 1.3 million on the roll, this is
worrisome," Haufiku said.
Polling ran smoothly in most parts of
the mainly desert nation, one of the most-sparsely in the world, but
was tarnished by the arrest of two polling officers who were found
tampering with ballot boxes on Friday.
President Hifikepunye
Pohamba, the successor to Namibia's founding father Sam Nujoma, is
seeking a second term in office and is expected to see off a challenge
from a former foreign minister.
Hamutenya launched the new RDP
party two years ago after losing a bid to take over Swapo following the
retirement of Nujoma in 2004.
The two parties are the biggest of
12 putting forward candidates for the presidency, with the RDP claiming
about 390 000 supporters from an estimated 1.1 million voters.
The RDP does not expect to win, but hopes to become the main opposition party.