Thousands left queuing to vote in Namibia after scheduled polls close

Logistical issues have left thousands of Namibians waiting in queues to vote in pivotal presidential and legislative elections, some for up to 12 hours, with polling stations staying open hours later than planned.

Some voters told AFP on Wednesday they queued all day, blaming technical problems that included issues with voter identification tablets and insufficient ballot papers.

"It's absolutely disappointing," said Reagan Cooper, a 43-year-old farmer among the hundred or so voters outside the town hall polling station in the capital Windhoek.

"The voters have turned out, but the electoral commission has failed us," Cooper told AFP.

In the face of criticism from all the political parties, including SWAPO, the Electoral Commission of Namibia extended voting hours for "no specified time", according to Windhoek region ECN head Rakondjerua Kavari.

Voting was halted for an hour at the Windhoek town hall site due to a lack of ballots, with applause welcoming the delivery of more waking sleepy, seated voters around 11:30 pm.

The last voter there cast his ballot more than four hours after the scheduled closing time -- 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) -- and vote counting then began almost immediately.

According to Namibia's electoral law, those in queues before polls are scheduled to close should be allowed to vote.

Petrus Shaama, chief officer of the ECN, said it was obligated to ensure voters could cast a ballot.

But the main opposition party, the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), blamed the ECN for the long lines and cried foul play.

"We have reason to believe that the ECN is deliberately suppressing voters and deliberately trying to frustrate voters from casting their vote," said Christine Aochamus of the IPC.

Armed with folding chairs and umbrellas to cope with the slow-moving lines and blazing sun, many Namibians spent half the day waiting to vote.

At one polling station inside the University of Science and Technology in Windhoek, hundreds of people were still in line at 9:00 pm despite some having arrived at 6:00 am, an hour before polls opened.

Polling site managers told AFP that problems with tablets used to check voters' identities using fingerprints included untimely updates, overheating and dead batteries.

Unemployment

SWAPO's candidate and current vice president, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, was one of the first to vote and called on Namibians "to come out in their numbers".

An estimated 1.5 million people in the sparsely populated nation were registered to vote.

SWAPO has governed since leading mineral-rich Namibia to independence from South Africa in 1990 but complaints about unemployment and enduring inequalities could force Nandi-Ndaitwah into an unprecedented second round.

Itula, 67, took 29 percent of votes in the 2019 elections, losing to SWAPO leader Hage Geingob with 56 percent. It was a remarkable performance considering Geingob, who died in February, had won almost 87 percent five years before that.

Namibia is a major uranium and diamond exporter but not many of its nearly three million people have benefitted from that wealth.