VOTE

ECN Stakeholders Workshop Swakopmund

the voters newsletter

June 2013

ECN VOTE NEWSLETTER

From the Desk of the Editor

VOTE Newsletter is published by the Electoral Commission of Namibias Democracy Building Division and aims at disseminating electoral related information, covering news and events as they unfold in Namibia and beyond. VOTE does not necessarily reflect the official views and opinions of the management of the Electoral Commission of Namibia. Text material may be reprinted or reproduced freely with the acknowledgements to VOTE and author, where applicable. All rights to photographs, illustrations or any other part thereof are reserved. Permission to reproduce must be obtained from the Electoral Commission of Namibia. Editor: Hilda Nakakuwa Contributors: Division Democracy Building staff Khomas Officers Beverly Lamb - Unam Student Intern Compilation: Gustaf Tomanga Distribution: Division Democracy Building. Contributions are welcome in the form of articles, news, features and comments related to electoral issues. They can be sent to: The Editor VOTE Newsletter ECN HEAD OFFICES Private Bag 13352 67-71 Van Rhjin Street Windhoek North Tel: 061-376 217 Fax: 061-237618 e-mail:hnakakuwa@ecn.na Region: Voter Education

of technology not to cause the electorate suffer the digital divide-syndrome. Going technology on voters registration is on the cards as we speak, as well as voting using the electronic voting machine (EVM) in the near future. Are you with us or have you stayed behind? Get involved or democracy will slip through your fingers. For the past few years ECN has been busy exploring all available avenues and instruments to make the electoral system more accessible, democratic, transparent and also convenient to all Namibians as well as the other persons and institutions with an interest in the Namibian system. Since 2011 there have been public and or stakeholder consultations on the possible overhaul of the entire electoral law to cater for new developments in our society as well as on the global scene. Secondly, ECN has vowed to keep abreast with advancement In their article, Political Participation and Quality of Life Weitz-Shapiro and Winters inform us that theoretical literatures on procedural utility and the psychological benefits of political participation suggest that people who participate in political activities will be more satisfied with their lives because of the resulting feelings of autonomy, competence and relatedness (Weitz-Shapiro, R. & Winters, M.S, 2008, p.3). Make partnership with ECN for the advancement of Namibias democracy!

ecn ensuring that citizens participate in the democratic electoral and political process with ease
Table of Contents
The new ECN Commissioner Moving Up ECN, Political Parties and Civil Society strive to improve Voter Education Durable Voter-Cards Are The Youth Apathetic? Voter Education In Khomas Region ECN Regional voter Education Officers Addresses 3 3&5 4 6 8 10 12

ECN VOTE NEWSLETTER

The New ECN Commissioner

Mr. Nespect Butty Salom was appointed as Commissioner as from 1 March 2013 by His Excellency President Hifikepunye Pohamba to join the ranks of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN). Mr. Nespect Butty Salom holds a Master of Philosophy in Special Needs Education from the University of Oslo, Honours Degree and a Master in Public Administration, University of Stellenbosch, Bachelor of Art, Post Graduate Diploma in Education and a Specialized Post Graduate Diploma in Special Education from the University of Namibia. Currently, he is registered for a PhD in Public Administration with the University of Namibia. Mr. Salom has been working as a Youth Officer in the Ministry of Youth and Sport, and a Teacher in a secondary school for nine years. He has been a tutor at the University of Namibia and Institute of Open Learning (I.O.L). He also worked as an Education Officer responsible for HIV and AIDS programs in the education sector, and a Program Coordinator at Center for Global Education at Augsburg College. Currently he is employed a Lecturer at Namibia Institute of Public Administration and Management in the Regional and Local Government Business Center.

Mr. Nespect Butty Salom

The Commissioners, management and the entire staff members of the Electoral Commission of Namibia whole-heartedly welcome Commissioner Salom and wish him all the best during his tenure of office.

Moving Up
Mr. Theo Mujoro is a long-serving staff member of the ECN of more than 12 years, having started at the ECN as Assistant to the Director of Elections in February 2001. Before joining the ECN, he worked initially as a journalist with the Namibia Press Agency (Nampa) and later as Media Liaison Officer and Personal Assistant to the late Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Mose Tjitendero. In January 2009 Mr. Mujoro was promoted to the position of Deputy Director in charge of the Division: Registration & Planning. He held this position until his promotion as Director of Operations in August 2012. Mr. Mujoro is primarily responsible for planning and execution of all electoral operations through overseeing and directing two key divisions namely; Voter Education & Democracy Building as well as the Registration and Planning. He has observed elections in different parts of the world and acquired enormous knowledge and experience in elections administration. He also acquired extensive skills and technical knowhow in election management through participating in various highly specialized courses over the years. Mr. Mujoro matriculated at Augustineum Secondary School in 1993 and obtained a National Diploma in Public Administration at the Polytechnic of Namibia in 1997. During his tenure at the Polytechnic of Namibia, Mr. Mujoro held the position of Vice President of the Student Representative Council (SRC) and President of the same body in 1996 and 1997 respectively. In the same period, he represented Polytechnic students in the Senate and Council of the Polytechnic of Namibia. During the 2004 Presidential, National Assembly and Regional Councils Elections Mr. Mujoro was a member of the National Elections Steering Committee. He was Head of Media and

Mr. Theo Mujoro Information Desk at the Central Elections Results Centre. During the 2009 Presidential and National Assembly elections, Mr. Mujoro was Manager of the Central Elections Results Center and was instrumental in various key activities relating to the said elections. In 2006, Mr. Mujoro received a scholarship from the German Federal Republic through the Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmbH and went to the University of
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ECN VOTE NEWSLETTER

Political Parties and Civil Society strive to improve Voter Education

The of Electoral Namibia Commission organized a

stakeholders workshop for the civil society organizations and political parties in Swakopmund at the beginning of this year. The workshop was aimed at training them on the use of the voter education materials; Voter Education and Elections

Participants of the stakeholder workshop

Consultants from the University of Namibia facilitated the sessions where the participants were trained on how to utilize the two voter education materials and made their valuable contributions in the quest to improve voter education and to provide uniformed electoral
Erongo Governor, Hon. Cleophas Mutjavikua, delivering his welcoming remarks at the workshop

information to the electorate and general public. In the same vein, the booklet and facilitation guide also aim at ensuring is that the same voter education teaching methodology equally applied in the country as provided for by the electoral laws and regulations as well as

in Namibia booklet and the Facilitation materials provide the and voter Guide were proper for Voter to to will to
Nico Mingelius of ECN showing the participants how the EVM works

Educators. The voter education designed guidance that

education

officers

organizations voter

be accredited by the ECN to conduct public. education the electorate and the general

ECN VOTE NEWSLETTER

Moving Up from page 3

Potsdam in Germany on an official study leave to do a Masters degree in Public Management. As part of the requisite masters program deliverable, Mr. Mujoro did a thesis study titled The Uranium Factor: Nuclear Power in the Third World, The Case of Namibia published in May 2007. As Namibia holds one of the earths largest deposits of uranium, it is an important question what this country can do in order to increase the benefit of this resource to the country and whether it should build nuclear power plants that use uranium from this deposit. The relevance of these questions has been highlighted by the African Union stating that it is necessary to devote more effort in the area of the peaceful use of nuclear energy and by a decision by the Namibian government to consider nuclear power as an option for power generation. His thesis looks at the socioeconomic and political preconditions for successful construction and operation of nuclear power plants in Namibia. In order to have some empirical guidance it looks at the experience of South Korea which, as a developing country, was rather successful in constructing and operating nuclear power plants. During his time at the University of Potsdam, Mr. Mujoro was selected to represent the Masters of Public Management Class of 06/07 at the European Summer School in The Netherlands and Egmond Aan Zee. Mr. Mujoro is a US State Alumni and participated in the International Leadership Visitors Program of 2005.

Participants paying attention during the stakeholders workshop

the supreme law of the country, the Namibian Constitution. The participants expressed with what

principles in the society. They also made a special request to the elections management body to translate these documents into local languages as well as to avail these materials to the stakeholders. The place ECN workshop from which 21-25 took

their appreciation consolidating

ECN is striving to achieve in democratic

January Advocate

2013 was officially opened by chairperson, Notemba Tjipueja. Participants from different political parties and civil society organizations were welcomed at the workshop by the Erongo Governor, Honorable Cleophas Mutjavikua at the joint official opening session before the participants commenced the sessions at two separate local hotels due to lack of adequate space to accommodate them
The chairperson of ECN, Mrs Notemba Tjipueja (left) in attendance at the workshop

at the same time.

ECN VOTE NEWSLETTER

Durable Voter-Cards
Beverly Lamb - UNAM student intern
The Electoral Commission of Namibia is geared to introduce the new voter registration kit come next general registration of voters which is slated for this year. The new voter registration kit is aimed at replacing the old laminated voter-card which was fragile to both human behavior as well as weather conditions. This fundamental change in the electoral process will see the Namibian citizens inside the country and abroad registered with the improved technology which is a shift from the traditional manual way used over the decades. The Director of Operations, Mr. Theo Mujoro indicates that the VOTERS REGISTRATION KIT includes new features such as the biometric loaded on the registration system. He says that the kit comprises of a number of advantages as opposed to the old system as it is faster, accurate, time saving and it also adds value to the credibility of the electoral process. This system will enable the registration officials to capture the finger -prints of the applicants and it subsequently helps eliminate the issuance of the duplicates which occurred with old system. As such with the new system registration officials will be able to issue instantly durable and easy to carry voter-cards to the applicants. In other words, the new voter card will be in the form of the Namibian Identity Document (ID), credit card size and other similar cards such the ATMs just to mention but a few examples. Looking the fast pace on which the new system operates, the ECN will be able to cover more applicants within the reasonable time than before and without delay. We will deploy these machines to capture voters details, issue voter-cards and at the same time download the field data on the ECN server, thus removing the human element. Therefore, with this new system, we will be able to deal with mistakes and errors which happen as a result of staff fatigue, says the Director of Operations. He added that another important aspect of the machines is that it will definitely add extra value to the electoral process, hence the credibility. ECN also plans to use the Indian made Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the up -coming national elections, if the public and stakeholders support the idea. In regard to ECN preparation to roll out this program, the Director of Operations says the election management body still has more than enough time to get its machineries ready for the next Presidential and National Assembly elections slated for 2014. The public and more especially the voters in particular will be informed and educated on how to operate the newly acquired electronic
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machines. He emphasizes that voter education and public awareness will be intensified on the machines in order for the voters to get used to them and subsequently operate them without problems. We wish to launch a voters education campaign to educate the public and the voters on the machines with a prime aim to eliminate fear and mistrust as a result of the public perceptions on the machines. The campaign will take shape in different ways, for example exhibitions/demonstrations of the machines at public places and road shows throughout the entire country. Mujoro says apart from educating the public, they will also have the chance to get a feeling of the machine by means of mock elections. These are important for the people to see and know how the machine actually operates. The ECN will make sure that the training is offered to trainers of trainers by the company personnel which manufactured the machines from India. This is done in order in case the people face challenges during training, and during elections if the machines are used the EVM manufacturing company will see to it that the ECN has backup on the ground when the machines are fully operational.

Technology for the Electoral Processes

ECN VOTE NEWSLETTER

Are The Youth Apathetic?

The 2011 National Census shows that Namibia has a very young population, with a median age of 21 years, and 57% of Namibians between the ages of 15 and 59. By the 2014 election, it is projected that over 50% of Namibias population will be under the age of 30, and over 50% of the voting population will be under the age of 35. Thats a huge youth vote! While these numbers tell us that appealing to this large percentage of the electorate will be critical for parties to make a mark in the 2014 elections, the

latest Afrobarometer Survey finds that younger Namibians show a significant disinterest in public affairs and party politics compared to older Namibians. In addition to holding a lower preference for democracy than Namibians aged 35 and older, a higher percentage of Namibians aged 18-34 also say that it doesnt matter to them what kind of government we have. SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRACY In the 2009 election, youth claimed an important stake in discussions and dialogue leading up to the

election, because that election marked the first time that the born-free (youth born after independence) generation would participate in a Namibian election. Henning Melber (2010) notes that For the first time a considerable number of young voters were able to express their preferences. During the pre-election build-up these born free, because of their sizeable numbers, were considered to be of some influence as a much speculated unknown variable. In the weeks leading up to the elections, for example, the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and the Namibia Institute for Democracy (NID) launched a campaign called Listen Loud to capture the views, the perspectives and the priorities of young people about key issues that affect their lives. (African Election, 2009) using mobile communication technologies. The campaign engaged the born-free youth on the issues of Child Protection, Education, HIV and AIDS, Health and Your Future, Your Vision. In addition to this campaign, various media placed a spotlight on the youth vote. Importantly, they noted that Often the youth vote is overlooked or underestimated by both analysis and political parties

ECN VOTE NEWSLETTER

Begin with the basics: Youth people need nuts-and-bolts practical information about how to vote. And efforts that make voting more convenient are quite effective. The medium matters more than the message: To date, the growing body of experimental research has not found that any type of message works better than another. It is more about making a quality contact. Young people are easy to incorporate into your lists and turnout programme: Excluding young voters from your turnout efforts is a mistake. The research findings all demonstrate that young people are just responsive to voter contact as older voters. Initial mobilization makes repeat voters: Successful mobilization in one election raises peoples propensity to vote in subsequent elections. Parties, candidates and interest group should expect long-term benefits from mobilizing youth today.
Source: Election Watch, Issue No.5, 2013

Prime Minister, Dr. Hage Geingob visiting ECN stand at Youth Expo 2012 alike, and this may be due to the fact that they are cynical about politics in general. Youth must therefore ensure their voices are heard and this can only happen if they turn out in numbers. (The Namibian, 2009) In the 2014 election, born free will comprise an even bigger chunk of the electorate than in 2009. Despite this, the Afrobarometer points to the a lack of interest in public affairs, with only 51% of youth in the 1824 age bracket noting they are interested in public affairs, and only 53% stating that they discuss politics with their friends or family, compared to significantly higher number in the older age groups. KEY THEMES IN MOBILISING YOUNG VOTERS: Quality counts: Actual votes per contact will be higher when the contact is more personalized and interactive.

Youth Expo 2012

Youth updating themselves on electoral information

ECN VOTE NEWSLETTER

Voter Education In Khomas Region

... the voter education officers go out into the community and educate, sensitize and inform the citizens on their rights to partake in peaceful political activities ...
Voter education is an integral part of Electoral Commission of Namibia. Therefore, ECN has voter education officers in the field. The work of the voter education officer is to go out into the community and educate, sensitize and inform the citizens on their rights to partake in peaceful political activities as enshrined in the Constitution of Namibia. It is the right of every citizen who is 18 years or older, to take part in political activities intended to influence the composition of Government whether directly or through freely representatives. chosen

The Khomas region voter education team has been in the field on a daily basis. Khomas region consists of 10 constituencies namely Windhoek East, Windhoek West, Katutura East, Katutura Central, John Pandeni, Tobias Hainyeko, Moses Garaeb, Windhoek Rural, Khomasdal North and Samora Machel. The voter education officers insure that every corner in the Khomas region is targeted in the quest to reach out to all the eligible voters and educate them so they can make informed

Voter education to the Namibia Defence Force

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ECN VOTE NEWSLETTER

decisions during registration or election time. This is also in view of General Voters Registration (GVR) in 2013 and General national elections of 2014. We have enhanced our programs from holding community voter education sessions to mini road shows around big shopping centers in the capital in order to cover as many people as possible in preparation for the GVR to kick off on a chosen a date in 2013. We have also been visiting the army bases from time to time to educate the officers and troops. We also visit Old Age Homes, schools, colleges, universities, farms and informal settlements to urge the citizens to take part in the electoral processes of the country, urging them to go register in big numbers and prepare themselves to vote during elections. One of our concerns is voter apathy, we are working hard to minimize voter apathy. We normally give away promotional items to the attendants after presentations and only after they answer questions based on the presentation. The promotional items consist of Caps, T-shirts, pencil cases, fridge magnets, key rings, key holders, pens, water bottles, foam caps, card holders and lanyards.

Mr. M. Nalisa, ECN Assistant Voter Education Officer (AVEO) handing over promotional items to some of the learners at various schools in Windhoek during Voter Education meetings in March 2013.

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ECN REGIONAL VOTER EDUCATION OFFICES ADDRESSES

1. 2. 3. Caprivi Region, Caprivi Regional Council, Katima Mulilo Tel: 066-253620 Fax: 066-255621 Erongo Region Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare Office Alpha Koop Building Swakopmund Tel: 064-407261 Fax: 064-404836 Khomas Region Old NHE Office-Stop & Shop, Ondoto Street next to Builders Warehouse, Okuryangava, Katutura Tel/Fax: 061-211955 Kavango Region Old Kavango Regional Council Complex Rundu Tel: 066-256301 Fax: 066-256256307 Kunene Region Old Kunene Regional Council Complex Opuwo Tel: 065-273500 Fax: 065:273054 Karas Region Old Kaiserliche Postamt (Opposite Central Park) Jooste Street, Keetmanshoop Tel: 063-222924 Fax: 063-240635 Omaheke Region Old Bears Building Gobabis Tel: 062-564690 Fax: 062-564151 Oshana Region, Continental No.1 Building Oshakati Tel: 065-221042 Fax: 065-221046 Ohangwena Region Eenhana Community Centre Eenhana Tel: 065-263303 Fax: 065-263074

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

10. Omusati Region Tona Trade Office, Erf 578 Nakakandi Mukatala Street, Outapi Tel: 065-251693 Fax: 065-251692 11. Oshikoto Region Ministry of Agriculture Building, Omuthiyagwiipundi Tel: 065-244011 Fax: 065-224197 12. Otjozondjupa Region 31-32 Bahnhoff, Hage Geingob Street, Otjiwarongo Tel/Fax: 067-302954 13. Hardap Region - Ert 881 Leonardweg (Opposite Hardap Regional Council Offices), Mariental Tel: 063-240742 Fax: 063-240635

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