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Thursday, November 27, 2014

2014 Namibian General Election Friday November 28,2014

 
General elections will be held in Namibia on Friday November 28,2014 to elect Members of Parliament to the National Assembly as well as a new President

Namibians are choosing a new president and parliament - in what is Africa's first electronic ballot.

The ruling South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo) is expected to win the poll and Prime Minister Hage Geingob to become president.

Opposition parties had challenged the Indian-made e-voting machines, citing concerns that a lack of a paper trail could encourage vote rigging.
But the case was dismissed by the country's High Court this week.

About 1.2 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots at nearly 4,000 polling stations across the vast country.

Namibian Parliament,the National Assembly(Lower House) consists of 78 members, 72 of which are elected by Parliamentary Election. The other 6 are appointed by the president.

The National Council(Upper House) consists of 26 representatives of the Regional Councils; every Regional Council in the 13 regions of Namibia elects two representatives




Polling officers will verify voter cards on a device containing the national voters' roll. In the booth, the voter selects their party of choice by pressing a button on an electronic ballot unit.
Electoral officials believe results will be available 24 hours after the poll ends.

There are 16 parties contesting the parliamentary vote and nine are fielding presidential candidates.

Swapo - which has won all elections since independence from South Africa in 1990 - is expected to triumph again in the race to the National Assembly.
The party's candidate Mr Geingob is widely seen as the favourite to become president.

SWAPO announced a gender equality system where women would fill half of their seats in parliament. Additionally they have embraced what they call a "zebra system", whereby if a minister is a woman, the deputy minister will be a man, and vice versa.

Incumbent President Hifikepunye Pohamba has already served the maximum two terms allowed by the constitution

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