Polling irregularities alleged

As two days of voting Namibia's third presidential and parliamentary elections drew to a close on Wednesday, allegations were made that representatives of opposition parties monitoring the polling had been turned away from a number of voting stations around the country. The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) expressed its "profound alarm" in a statement saying that opposition party agents had not been able to monitor the voting in several constituencies in the country's most heavily populated northern Ovambo regions. "It is reported that such officers did this with the connivance of certain SWAPO officials," the statement said referring to the ruling Southwest Africa Peoples Organisation led by President Sam Nujoma. "This state of affairs brings into serious question the transparency of the electoral process and consequently the credibility of the final results. "The final results must not only be credible, but also be perceived as such," said the statement signed by the NSHR director of elections, Zen Asser Mnakapa. He said party agents representing the opposition Congress of Democrats (CoD) and the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) had been turned away by presiding officers in some cases because their letters of appointment had not been submitted to Returning Officers or that they did not bear the official seals of their parties. NSHR said its own monitors and other sources had cited irregularities in the Ovambo constituencies of Omuthiya, Eengodi, Olukonda, Onyaanya, Okatana, Ongwediva, Oshakati West, Mobile, Ompundja, Oshikuku, Ondangwa, Endola, Okankolo, Oshikango and Ohangwena. It also cited irregularities in Katima Mulilo, capital of the northeast Caprivi Strip. News reports in Namibia said access had also been denied to official DTA and CoD observers in the central and southern areas of the country. "The Electoral Commission must ensure that the voting process is repeated at these places," the statement said.