IT’S said your vote is a secret but the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) election observer mission discovered that the Namibian voters’ vote was not a secret in the just-ended Presidential and National Assembly elections.

PAP’s discovery comes in the wake of reports and complaints that ECN officials were recording voter registration card numbers on the counterfoil of the ballot papers.
According to a statement released by the election observer mission the practice can expose voters’ identities.
“The mission has no cause to believe that the result of the possible victimisation of the voter is intended. However, out of abundance of caution, a review in that direction would allay the fears of all concerned and consolidate the confidentiality of the secrecy of the ballot,” the observer mission said.
The mission recommended a review of the electoral processes with regards to tendered votes to ensure confidentiality and secrecy of the vote.
On the alleged issue of the indelible ink used in the voting process being easily washed off the observer mission said it took the ECN Director, Moses Ndjarakana, to task questioning the effectiveness of the indelible ink.
Ndjarakana is alleged to have failed to vouch for the effectiveness of the ink which some voters said could wash off easily with ordinary dish washing soap thereby raising fears of possible multiple voting.
The mission suggested that the quality of the indelible ink to be used in subsequent elections should be assessed and tested in mock trials to ensure durability and effectiveness.
With regards to fears that the time lag between counting of votes at polling stations and the declaration of validated results by the ECN in Windhoek might give rise to possible tempering of provisional results announced at polling stations, the PAP observer mission noted the slowness and recommended that the ECN speedily announce the final election results to protect the integrity of the electoral process.
The mission said the coverage of the election campaign by the state media in particular NBC was heavily tilted in favour of the Swapo party.
However, the mission noted that the state owned New Era newspaper was not biased in its coverage to any party in particular.
The mission further recommended that the state media should be insulated from direct government control by establishing an independent media institution with the responsibility of appointing and dismissing heads of state media.
“That without prejudice to the allocation of airtime to reflect the representation of parties in parliament a certain minimum threshold of free airtime be allocated to every contesting political party. The 60%-40% airtime allocation to parties represented in parliament and those contesting elections respectively should be considered,” the mission said.    
On the contentious issue of the inability of the ECN to provide stakeholders with a credible voters’ roll, the observer mission also recommended that the voters roll should be made available to all contesting political parties within a reasonable time after it has been finalised and gazetted.
However, the mission noted that the irregularities observed neither substantially compromised the integrity of the electoral process nor denied the majority of Namibians the opportunity to express their will.