IMAGE: Namibia Fact Check
Reports have it that voter registration has been too slow partly because there were not enough registration points available countrywide
Half way through the two-month voter registration period it appears that in some parts of the country voter registration still has to pick up significant pace.
Low turnout of eligible Namibians in some regions appears to have authorities concerned as the deadline for registration nears. General voter registration ahead of the 27 November 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections started on 3 June 2024 and runs until 1 August 2024.
On Tuesday evening, 2 July 2024, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) released a list of ‘Additional Registration Teams and Points‘ to the media, with the terse message:
“Good evening, esteemed Media Partners! Please be informed of the additional registration teams established across the country. The teams will be deployed tomorrow to expedite the registration process.”
In other words, the additional teams were to have been in place at the additional locations as from Wednesday, 3 July 2024.
Why the additional teams and locations were suddenly necessary has yet to be explained by the ECN, along with the comprehensive update of the state of voter registration for June 2024. According to the ECN there are 1,731,790 Namibians eligible to vote in the November 2024 elections, with the electoral management body looking to register most of them by 1 August 2024. The number of eligible voters was determined using the latest population census figures released by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) earlier this year.
The ECN has indicated that it will communicate about the state and progress of voter registration during the week ending 6 July 2024. At the time of publication the update had yet to materialise. Namibia Fact Check will provide an update once this information is available.
For a guide on the important information about voter registration, see our article below: