Government Opens Up Early Lead in Namibia Vote
The first trickle of results in Namibia's general election gave the ruling SWAPO party a commanding lead Saturday, as it bids to extend a 24-year grip on power in the vast desert nation.
With a few districts in the north of the country reporting, the Electoral Commission of Namibia said early Saturday that 73-year-old Prime Minister Hage Geingob was winning the presidential vote with 77 percent and his closest rival trailing in single digits.
Namibian voters cast their ballots late into the night Friday, in an election billed as Africa's first e-vote.
On Saturday Benjamin Ulenga, who was trailing in fourth place in the presidential race, called for the vote to be annulled and for the head of the electoral commission to resign.
"The current elections have been a sham and a complete fiasco," he said in a statement.
"We therefore call for the immediate resignation of Professor Paul Isaak as director of elections, the calling off of the current sham process; and for the holding of what will be truly credible, fair and worthy elections on the nearest possible date."
Opposition parties had launched an 11th-hour court challenge to stop the electronic vote from going ahead days before the election, saying the use of the voting machines could facilitate vote rigging.
But the Windhoek High Court dismissed the application.
- Everyone votes -
Throughout voting day polling stations saw a large turnout, with countless thousands waiting in the fierce desert sun to vote, using hats, newspapers or umbrellas for shade.
By nightfall many hundreds were still waiting to cast their ballot.
"We have been told to allow everyone who is here a vote," said the presiding officer at Van Rhyn School in the capital city Windhoek, two hours after polls were scheduled to close.
Voters -- many casting their ballots for the first time -- waited patiently for the most part, and police said there were no reports of serious violence.
Namibians were choosing 96 members for the national assembly and one of nine presidential candidates.
The ruling South West Africa People's Organisation -- better known as SWAPO -- was forged from the embers of the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggle and has won every election since Namibia's independence in 1990.
Current Prime Minister Geingob, vowed to improve the country's economy, as he voted in the Windhoek township of Katutura early Friday.
"We have plans already, we are not a new party. We have plans that we are going to implement," he said Geingob afterwards.
"The second phase is that of economic emancipation," he added.
SWAPO remains by far the biggest party in the country, but has seen increased criticism of the slow pace of land reform as well as allegations of government corruption.
The key test will be whether SWAPO can match its 75-percent haul at the last election.
Around 1.2 million Namibians were eligible to vote at nearly 4,000 electronic voting places across the vast desert nation.
Other African nations have run pilot or limited e-voting, but none have done so on this scale.
Final results could come as soon as 1900 GMT on Saturday.
Source: Agence France Presse
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