Namibia has over 1.6 million eligible voters

WINDHOEK: Over 1.6 million Namibian citizens are eligible to vote in the upcoming national elections, with 763,772 being males and 852,138 females.

This, according to Statistician-General Alex Shimuafeni, is based on the preliminary results of the 2023 national census, released in March 2024.

‘All Namibians excluding non-citizens in the category of 18 years and above are eligible voters and can thus register for the upcoming elections. This number is 1,615,910,’ Shimuafeni said in a statement on Tuesday.

However, Shimuafeni stated that the total number of eligible voters can increase if individuals who turned 18 years old are considered.

‘Some of the Namibians excluding non-citizens who were 17 years by 16 July 2024 or earlier, should by today be 18 years of age or older. The number of all Namibians excluding non-citizens enumerated to be 17 years by 24 September 2023 the census reference night is 51,868. In total, around 1,667,778 Namibian citizens, 789,775 male and 878,003 female are eligible voters for
the upcoming elections,’ he said.

‘However, Namibians in the diaspora are not included in the above-mentioned figures because the Namibian 2023 census used a De Facto Methodology, which was an enumeration based on the people found in Namibia during the census reference night, thus including foreigners. This is opposed to the De Jure Methodology, for which the Census enumeration would count the number of all Namibians, including those in the diaspora,’ he said.

The Electoral Commission of Namibia is currently conducting nationwide voter registration ahead of the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for 27 November 2024. Last week, the electoral body announced that it has registered 823,761 eligible voters, with the process ending on 01 August.

The commission urges all eligible voters who have not registered yet to do so within the remaining two weeks of the registration period, cautioning that there is no opportunity to extend the voter registration period.

Source: The Namibia Press Agen
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