The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) is conducting an education outreach initiative in the remote areas of the Kunene Region to education people on why they have to register as a prerequisite to voting in elections.

The civic and voter education campaign, which is underway concurrently with the voter registration process, is aimed at all eligible voters in the Kunene Region, as well as ensuring that all residents understand their rights and the voter registration procedures.

Santos Muhenje, ECN’s Kunene regional voter education officer, told Nampa on Wednesday that the region is on track with its voter education campaign to educate citizens on the voter registration procedure and what is required of them to register to vote.

‘This process started at the beginning of the year and as always, preceding every election or voter registration, ECN embarks on voter and civic education to educate the general public on the various aspects of the election and what is expected of them,’ stated Muhenje.

Currently
, voter educators are in hard-to-reach mountainous sections of the Kunene Region, engaging residents on the voter registration process before registration officers begin next week.

‘We must prepare voters before the registration officials get to their venues and I must say that the team has been doing a good job so far,’ remarked Muhenje.

According to Muhenje, the continuing campaign aims to attain universal electorate coverage, which includes reaching out to underprivileged groups and internally displaced people, as well as young individuals who are voting for the first time.

Muhenje noted that ECN is using Namibian Air Force helicopters to conduct these engagements and provide education in hard-to-reach places.

ECN has four teams in the Kunene Region, with 12 voter educators covering the Epupa East, Epupa West, and Opuwo Rural constituencies, including the Kamanjab, Outjo and Khorixas districts.

Through these efforts, the region has registered 37 000 voters in the last six weeks.

Mike Nganjone, the re
gional elections officer in Kunene, told this agency in a recent interview that the region aims to register more than 80 per cent of eligible voters.

According to the most recent Census, the region contains approximately 50 000 eligible voters.

Source: The Namibia News Agency