Competent Namibians must question incompetent Officials
I was a counting observer for my party in the Windhoek East Constituency. And this is how and what was counted.
About 24 counting agents plus the returning officer where seated at one side of a large table. On the other side several counting observers from different political parties where seated. Behind them 3 police officers where constantly on duty and on several occasions some three members of the foreign observers could be seen sitting in the background.
The first polling station listed under Windhoek East was called up with two election agents, the same ones that had been the polling agents for the two days of the election. They had had about three to four hours sleep in between polling, making reports and then starting counting the next morning.
Two sealed boxes marked "ordinary" with ballots for the Presidential election where presented, with every party observer given the opportunity to check that their numbered seals where unbroken. Then the two agents presented two locked grey boxes with election material inside. The books with the ballot papers where shown and counted and the number of used ballot papers verified with the number of unused ballot papers. Also the registration number of the ballot books where recorded and verified.
The ordinary ballot papers, so called, because they where not sealed in envelopes and where from the same Constituency, namely Windhoek East where the counting station was, where sorted according to candidates and then counted, with each ballot paper being lifted up for every observer to see the marking.
The figures where then recorded for each candidate and the total verified again to tally with the number of ballot papers used.
Then the "tendered" ballots in envelopes in sealed boxes where presented, verified with the number of ballot papers used and then sorted - unopened - by the 12 other regions of Namibia, where the voter was registered according to his voting card. The envelopes from Khomas region where kept separately.
The sealed envelopes, with the ballot papers inside, where then counted according to the region, Otjozondjupa, Erongo, Karas, Caprivi etc where the voter was registered - but had voted at the TransNamib polling station in Windhoek, Khomas Region.
After the figures where recorded how many envelopes had come from persons registered elsewhere, the envelopes marked Khomas where sorted according to the 9 other constituencies of Windhoek namely Katutura Central, Katutura East, Khomas North, Moses Garoeb, Thomas Hainyeko, Soweto, Windhoek West and Windhoek Rural. The figures where again recorded.
Then the envelopes from the different regions, Caprivi, Karas, Erongo where opened and the open ballot papers lumped together, at which stage I protested.
My argument was that this would make no sense and once opened and lumped together it would be impossible to trace where the ballot paper had come from and thus impossible to say that e.g. at TransNamib 100 had voted for the DTA and say 20 DTA votes had come from the Caprivi, 10 from Erongo and so forth. So why count the sealed envelopes by region in the first place unless you keep them separate when opened to count the support for different candidates by region also?!
But I was shown the documents by the reporting officer from the ECN (Electoral Commission of Namibia) which specifies to count the envelopes separately, but no supporting material was included, to record the ballots cast by region or constituency separately.
For Khomas separately the same procedure: Envelopes sorted by Constituency, counted, recorded, opened, lumped together and counted according to candidates.
What this means is that there is no way, the ECN can know or say what support which candidate or party got from which region.
The only fact that can be deducted from counting and recording the sealed envelopes by region of the voters registration card, is that the majority of voters did not vote in the constituency they where registered in. (What a surprise!)
And that in Windhoek East for example 5542 voters registered in Windhoek East, cast their ballot in their own constituency, but 8644 voters came from, the exact figures recorded, from for instance Caprivi, Erongo, Omusati, Windhoek West, Soweto etc. but for whom the Caprivians that voted in Windhoek East, cast their ballots, is impossible to say.
Likewise, people from Windhoek East that where by chance in Swakopmund and rightfully voted there, had their ballot papers put in an envelope, where counted as - oh, that many envelopes from Windhoek in Swakopmund! But then no record, how many of Windhoek East ballots were cast say for the DTA in Swakopmund, or Oshakati or anywhere else in Namibia. The ECN will only be able to say xxx Windhoek East voters voted at home and the rest voted there, there and there.
I myself am registered in Windhoek East Constituency, but I went to a polling station in Windhoek West, where the queue was shorter and I was most amazed to have my ballot paper put in a sealed envelope with Khomas, Windhoek East written on it.
So my vote for my party will never be recorded for Windhoek East, because now I know that with counting, my ballot paper, once taken out of the envelope, was lumped together with all others from Khomas and eventually publicised by the ECN with the votes from the rest of the country. Telling the public that in Windhoek East out of 10217 registered voters, 14770 turned up to vote, making it a 144.5 percent voters turn out. How can the ECN explain what sort of voters statistic that is?
For the political parties there is thus no statistic from the ECN that they can rely on to know what support they have in which constituency. The ECN wanted envelopes counted, but not the votes by region in the envelopes.
That makes as much sense as counting the waves in the ocean.
All one can deduct is that the waves keep moving, like the Namibians, that obviously, judging by the number of envelopes coming from different regions, are a very mobile society.
Counting in the Windhoek East counting station started at 8 o?clock Wednesday morning. At lunch time and in the evening, my DTA party, and that was the only party that did this, handed warm food and sandwiches in with juices for us 3 DTA counting observers.
For the counting agents put there by the ECN, there was nothing. They where counting. Eventually a big water kettle was brought and water boiled, but 3 cups only, no tea, coffee or anything provided. The supporting officer then asked for everybody to put some money in the pool to get something to eat. A counting agent was then sent, with police escort, to buy some basic foodstuff from N$ 160 collected from about 24 people. That was for 10 loaves of bread, some jam, tea, coffee, margarine, breadspread - and toilet paper! Because there where toilets, only to be used under police escort, even if you showed your hands to be empty of cell phone or anything else. But there was no toilet paper on these toilets. And the police officer stayed glued to your door throughout your private session. (Could they have had to send in a report on that also?)
Counting went on throughout the night, the ECN counting agents took turns to get a short nap huddled on a chair or on a mattress lying on the floor.
Throughout the whole of Thursday, counting the presidential votes, with the procedure described above, went on for the boxes from the 7 polling stations in the Windhoek East Constituency with one Mobile Station for Luiperdsvallei Army Base.
Again no food, or drinks was provided for the ECN counting agents, but my party looked after us.
On Thursday evening round about six o?clock, all the Presidential votes where counted and the ballots cast for the National Assembly where to be started counting.
After 32 hours of uninterrupted checking crosses on ballot papers, I started seeing things double and left. And once out of the counting station as observer, you were not allowed to go back in again! Except the SADC Observers.
Out of 14256 ballot papers counted in two days, some 160 ballot papers had been rejected, because they where either totally unmarked, or more than one candidate marked or otherwise unintelligible, and two voters had actually put their voters registration card in and kept the ballot paper - but quite a number of ballot papers had no official stamp on the back, and although they where correctly filled in, through the obvious negligence of the polling agent, these votes where, according to ECN regulations, to be regarded as invalid.
All I can say afterwards: my highest regard for those Namibian men and women who as polling and counting agents went through 4 to 5 days without proper sleep, food or other basic amenities with a cheerful patience and dignity that can not easily be matched anywhere else in the world.
But those at the ECN, who are responsible for proposing tendered ballots inside Namibia for a National Election while denying them for Regional Elections should be fired for incompetence immediately.
They are responsible for this embarrassing delay in counting envelopes that in end can only tell you that more people voted where they are not registered and in the process totally mixed up the statistics about which region supports which party, which all political parties would have liked to know.
Anybody that saw Talk of the Nation on the 22 November will have heard, that for the coming Regional Election, the ECN representatives on the show where adamant, that no tendered ballots in envelopes will be allowed. Can the ECN not understand, that in a country that is as mobile as ours, where people work and live wherever there is an opportunity and more than 60 percent where for this election not in the constituency they are registered in, now have to travel throughout the country for 2 days of voting on 29 and 30 November.
We need tendered ballots for the Regional Elections, so that voters can vote for their candidate in their constituency while they are in another constituency. But we did not need tendered ballots inside Namibia for Presidential or National Assembly Elections, because the total amount of votes cast in the whole of Namibia decides who becomes President and which party sits how strong in Parliament.
Why is the Electoral Commission unable to understand this?
I am totally disgusted with this very free election with a registration list of which in Khomas Region more than 30 percent were "sworn in" by 2 persons "testifying" to know them, and many of the sworn-ins only with the birth date noted in the register as proof of identity.
And if the counting was fair and the polling was also fair, this can only be thanked to the Namibian people that patiently did their duty and awaited their turn - but in no way can the way the ruling party used government, thus taxpayers, funds and amenities to campaign for support, be regarded as fair.
Namibians must wake up and start questioning those that have authority but no competence, while those with competence often fail to question the authority. And that is why we will eventually fail altogether if we do not wake up now!
Ilme Schneider, Councillor City of Windhoek
About 24 counting agents plus the returning officer where seated at one side of a large table. On the other side several counting observers from different political parties where seated. Behind them 3 police officers where constantly on duty and on several occasions some three members of the foreign observers could be seen sitting in the background.
The first polling station listed under Windhoek East was called up with two election agents, the same ones that had been the polling agents for the two days of the election. They had had about three to four hours sleep in between polling, making reports and then starting counting the next morning.
Two sealed boxes marked "ordinary" with ballots for the Presidential election where presented, with every party observer given the opportunity to check that their numbered seals where unbroken. Then the two agents presented two locked grey boxes with election material inside. The books with the ballot papers where shown and counted and the number of used ballot papers verified with the number of unused ballot papers. Also the registration number of the ballot books where recorded and verified.
The ordinary ballot papers, so called, because they where not sealed in envelopes and where from the same Constituency, namely Windhoek East where the counting station was, where sorted according to candidates and then counted, with each ballot paper being lifted up for every observer to see the marking.
The figures where then recorded for each candidate and the total verified again to tally with the number of ballot papers used.
Then the "tendered" ballots in envelopes in sealed boxes where presented, verified with the number of ballot papers used and then sorted - unopened - by the 12 other regions of Namibia, where the voter was registered according to his voting card. The envelopes from Khomas region where kept separately.
The sealed envelopes, with the ballot papers inside, where then counted according to the region, Otjozondjupa, Erongo, Karas, Caprivi etc where the voter was registered - but had voted at the TransNamib polling station in Windhoek, Khomas Region.
After the figures where recorded how many envelopes had come from persons registered elsewhere, the envelopes marked Khomas where sorted according to the 9 other constituencies of Windhoek namely Katutura Central, Katutura East, Khomas North, Moses Garoeb, Thomas Hainyeko, Soweto, Windhoek West and Windhoek Rural. The figures where again recorded.
Then the envelopes from the different regions, Caprivi, Karas, Erongo where opened and the open ballot papers lumped together, at which stage I protested.
My argument was that this would make no sense and once opened and lumped together it would be impossible to trace where the ballot paper had come from and thus impossible to say that e.g. at TransNamib 100 had voted for the DTA and say 20 DTA votes had come from the Caprivi, 10 from Erongo and so forth. So why count the sealed envelopes by region in the first place unless you keep them separate when opened to count the support for different candidates by region also?!
But I was shown the documents by the reporting officer from the ECN (Electoral Commission of Namibia) which specifies to count the envelopes separately, but no supporting material was included, to record the ballots cast by region or constituency separately.
For Khomas separately the same procedure: Envelopes sorted by Constituency, counted, recorded, opened, lumped together and counted according to candidates.
What this means is that there is no way, the ECN can know or say what support which candidate or party got from which region.
The only fact that can be deducted from counting and recording the sealed envelopes by region of the voters registration card, is that the majority of voters did not vote in the constituency they where registered in. (What a surprise!)
And that in Windhoek East for example 5542 voters registered in Windhoek East, cast their ballot in their own constituency, but 8644 voters came from, the exact figures recorded, from for instance Caprivi, Erongo, Omusati, Windhoek West, Soweto etc. but for whom the Caprivians that voted in Windhoek East, cast their ballots, is impossible to say.
Likewise, people from Windhoek East that where by chance in Swakopmund and rightfully voted there, had their ballot papers put in an envelope, where counted as - oh, that many envelopes from Windhoek in Swakopmund! But then no record, how many of Windhoek East ballots were cast say for the DTA in Swakopmund, or Oshakati or anywhere else in Namibia. The ECN will only be able to say xxx Windhoek East voters voted at home and the rest voted there, there and there.
I myself am registered in Windhoek East Constituency, but I went to a polling station in Windhoek West, where the queue was shorter and I was most amazed to have my ballot paper put in a sealed envelope with Khomas, Windhoek East written on it.
So my vote for my party will never be recorded for Windhoek East, because now I know that with counting, my ballot paper, once taken out of the envelope, was lumped together with all others from Khomas and eventually publicised by the ECN with the votes from the rest of the country. Telling the public that in Windhoek East out of 10217 registered voters, 14770 turned up to vote, making it a 144.5 percent voters turn out. How can the ECN explain what sort of voters statistic that is?
For the political parties there is thus no statistic from the ECN that they can rely on to know what support they have in which constituency. The ECN wanted envelopes counted, but not the votes by region in the envelopes.
That makes as much sense as counting the waves in the ocean.
All one can deduct is that the waves keep moving, like the Namibians, that obviously, judging by the number of envelopes coming from different regions, are a very mobile society.
Counting in the Windhoek East counting station started at 8 o?clock Wednesday morning. At lunch time and in the evening, my DTA party, and that was the only party that did this, handed warm food and sandwiches in with juices for us 3 DTA counting observers.
For the counting agents put there by the ECN, there was nothing. They where counting. Eventually a big water kettle was brought and water boiled, but 3 cups only, no tea, coffee or anything provided. The supporting officer then asked for everybody to put some money in the pool to get something to eat. A counting agent was then sent, with police escort, to buy some basic foodstuff from N$ 160 collected from about 24 people. That was for 10 loaves of bread, some jam, tea, coffee, margarine, breadspread - and toilet paper! Because there where toilets, only to be used under police escort, even if you showed your hands to be empty of cell phone or anything else. But there was no toilet paper on these toilets. And the police officer stayed glued to your door throughout your private session. (Could they have had to send in a report on that also?)
Counting went on throughout the night, the ECN counting agents took turns to get a short nap huddled on a chair or on a mattress lying on the floor.
Throughout the whole of Thursday, counting the presidential votes, with the procedure described above, went on for the boxes from the 7 polling stations in the Windhoek East Constituency with one Mobile Station for Luiperdsvallei Army Base.
Again no food, or drinks was provided for the ECN counting agents, but my party looked after us.
On Thursday evening round about six o?clock, all the Presidential votes where counted and the ballots cast for the National Assembly where to be started counting.
After 32 hours of uninterrupted checking crosses on ballot papers, I started seeing things double and left. And once out of the counting station as observer, you were not allowed to go back in again! Except the SADC Observers.
Out of 14256 ballot papers counted in two days, some 160 ballot papers had been rejected, because they where either totally unmarked, or more than one candidate marked or otherwise unintelligible, and two voters had actually put their voters registration card in and kept the ballot paper - but quite a number of ballot papers had no official stamp on the back, and although they where correctly filled in, through the obvious negligence of the polling agent, these votes where, according to ECN regulations, to be regarded as invalid.
All I can say afterwards: my highest regard for those Namibian men and women who as polling and counting agents went through 4 to 5 days without proper sleep, food or other basic amenities with a cheerful patience and dignity that can not easily be matched anywhere else in the world.
But those at the ECN, who are responsible for proposing tendered ballots inside Namibia for a National Election while denying them for Regional Elections should be fired for incompetence immediately.
They are responsible for this embarrassing delay in counting envelopes that in end can only tell you that more people voted where they are not registered and in the process totally mixed up the statistics about which region supports which party, which all political parties would have liked to know.
Anybody that saw Talk of the Nation on the 22 November will have heard, that for the coming Regional Election, the ECN representatives on the show where adamant, that no tendered ballots in envelopes will be allowed. Can the ECN not understand, that in a country that is as mobile as ours, where people work and live wherever there is an opportunity and more than 60 percent where for this election not in the constituency they are registered in, now have to travel throughout the country for 2 days of voting on 29 and 30 November.
We need tendered ballots for the Regional Elections, so that voters can vote for their candidate in their constituency while they are in another constituency. But we did not need tendered ballots inside Namibia for Presidential or National Assembly Elections, because the total amount of votes cast in the whole of Namibia decides who becomes President and which party sits how strong in Parliament.
Why is the Electoral Commission unable to understand this?
I am totally disgusted with this very free election with a registration list of which in Khomas Region more than 30 percent were "sworn in" by 2 persons "testifying" to know them, and many of the sworn-ins only with the birth date noted in the register as proof of identity.
And if the counting was fair and the polling was also fair, this can only be thanked to the Namibian people that patiently did their duty and awaited their turn - but in no way can the way the ruling party used government, thus taxpayers, funds and amenities to campaign for support, be regarded as fair.
Namibians must wake up and start questioning those that have authority but no competence, while those with competence often fail to question the authority. And that is why we will eventually fail altogether if we do not wake up now!
Ilme Schneider, Councillor City of Windhoek
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