Namibia to recount vote

2005-03-12 21:18

Windhoek - The recount of ballot papers of Namibia's parliamentary elections last November will commence on Sunday morning following a court ruling, an official of the electoral commission said on Saturday.

Two opposition parties, the Congress of Democrats (CoD) and the Republican Party (RP), won the court order to have a recount of the approximately 830 000 votes cast after proving irregularities to justify a recounting, the first time in Namibia's history.

"The opening of all ballot boxes and recounting of ballot papers will start on Sunday at the Windhoek show grounds at 8:00am (06:00 GMT)", the director of elections, Philemon Kanime, told reporters.

"We will set up 40 counting points on the premises and each political party which contested in last year's polls can second two members for each point to observe the recount process", Kanime added.

"Local civil organisations that observed the November elections will also be able to observe the recount process", according to Kanime.

"The recount would presumably be completed by Wednesday", the elections director said.

Namibia's high court on Thursday ordered a recount of ballots from the parliamentary elections that were overwhelmingly won by the ruling South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo) party.

But Judge Petrus Damaseb refused to grant a request from the two opposition parties that the November 15 and 16 elections should be declared null and void due to irregularities.

He ordered that the recount begin no later than Monday and be completed by Sunday of next week, just one day ahead of the March 21 inauguration of president-elect Hifikepunye Pohamba, who will take over from veteran leader Sam Nujoma.

The new parliament must be sworn in before March 21.

"The recount of the elections must commence within five calendar days of today's judgement and conclude no later than ten calendar days from the date of this order," said Damaseb.

But the opposition was not as optimistic that the recount would be completed in just four days.

"The documents we were able to peruse last December after winning the first court order to gain access to the returning documents and lists of cast votes and spoilt ballots revealed bad arithmetic and many returning forms were unsigned by the presiding officers, which renders such ballots as spoilt according to the election law", Carla Engelbrecht, secretary general of the RP, told reporters.

"While opening the sealed boxes and recounting the actual ballots is quite straightforward, we expect quite a chaos regarding the accompanying lists from the 1 168 polling stations and we also must reconcile the counterfoils of the ballot papers with the votes cast", Engelbrecht added.

Swapo won 75,1% of the vote in the elections in the southern African country, its third victory since Namibia's independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990.

- AFP