NAMIBIANS AWAIT ELECTION RESULTS

UNCLAS WINDHOEK 000436 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM WA SUBJECT: NAMIBIANS AWAIT ELECTION RESULTS REF: A. WINDHOEK 433 ¶B. WINDHOEK 377 ¶1. Namibia held its fourth post-independence general elections on November 27 and 28. Fourteen political parties contested 72 National Assembly seats, and a record 12 candidates contested the presidency. After two 14-hour days of voting followed by marathon sessions to count and verify ballots, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has released results from only four of Namibia's 107 constituencies. According to observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC),who issued a preliminary statement on November 30, the polls were "transparent, credible, peaceful, free and fair." Embassy Windhoek coordinated with European diplomatic missions to send 35 election observers around the country. Despite minor procedural inconsistencies and irregularities and some cases of possible voter intimidation, the groups determined the elections to be free, fair and transparent. There were no incidents of election-related violence, as had been anticipated (ref A). ¶2. There are no official figures available yet on voter turnout. Queues were long on November 27, with some Namibians waiting five hours to cast their votes. Lines at most polling stations were considerably shorter on November 28, which left many to speculate that the country's controversial two-day voting process could be reduced to one day. ¶3. The ECN, which was heavily criticized during the pre-election phase for bungling registration procedures and the voters roll (ref B),was again the target of frustration during the voting. On November 28 and 29, several opposition parties, including the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP),held press conferences to condemn instances in which the indelible and invisible ink applied to voters' fingers had washed off. They also complained that party representatives were not allowed to spend the night in polling stations with the ballot boxes-- a practice permitted in most constituencies. ¶4. On November 30, party representatives and election observers, emerged exhausted from polling stations. Some had spent more than 48 hours voluntarily locked inside polling centers, while ECN staff members counted ballots. The slow pace mostly appears to be attributed to a complicated accounting process, which required separate handling for tendered votes, i.e., ballots cast outside of a voter's home constituency. In addition, ECN officials took pains to comply with the new Electoral Amendment Act. Passed in August, the legislation required that ballots be counted at polling stations "immediately" after the polls closed with the results then posted outside the polling station. ¶5. The delay in announcing official results has led some to speculate that the votes are being recounted or manipulated, although there is no evidence to suggest this. Unofficial results have circulated by email and instant message, and these early statistics show-- not surprisingly-- a strong performance by the ruling South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) party and its presidential candidate, President Hifikepunye Pohamba. The RDP, which was favored to place second, appears to have siphoned significant support away from the other opposition parties. Official results are expected later in the week, and the winners of both races will be sworn in on March 21. MATHIEU