1,162,366 voters registered in the GRV of 2014

The ECN has completed the General Registration of Voters (GRV) during the period 15 January to 2

March 2014. The total number of registration was 1,162,366 of which 3,441 were voters registering at

foreign embassies. During the launch on 14 March, the Chairperson of the ECN, Adv. Notemba Tjipueja,

announced the results and gave statistics on the voters that were registered in the country.

The Chairperson also indicated that the ECN will have period of supplementary registration, due in

September this year, which will give citizens who missed out a final chance to register before national

elections are expected to take place at the end of November 2014.

The 3rd General Registration of Voters exercise was a mammoth national task as it indeed entailed an

unchartered territory of enormous proportion for a young democracy such as Namibia and a relatively

small institution like the ECN.

The GRV entailed:-

699 Teams (Fixed: 175, Semi-Fixed: 382 and Mobile: 142)

3,852 Registration points

3,866 Temporary Registration Officials (including 58 Registration Officials at Diplomatic

Missions)

1,268 Deployed Police Officers

Registered Voters by Region

In the chart below, the registered voters are broken down by region with a column graph indicating

differences in number and the pie chart indicating percentage of the total number of voters registered.

Khomas has the highest number of voters (211,787) with Omaheke having the least number of

registered voters (39,094).

Registered Voters by Generation

The ECN has noted the high number of youthful voters aged between 18 and 32 that have registered.

This age group makes up around 44% of those registered.

Of interest was also the fact that the “born-frees” (voters born after 21 March 1990) make up 228,703

or 19.73% of registered voters.

Registered Voters by Gender

Slightly more than 53% of the voters registered were female though this number varies per region.

Conclusion

Having concluded the registration process is only the first process in the many interconnected electoral

processes of an Election cycle. However, the registration process is pivotal and if well executed, it lays a

solid foundation for other processes including the election. The remaining steps to conclude the GRV

process are all prescribed by law and are as follows:

• The completion of data uploading & consolidation process;

• Integrity checks and Quality Control;

• The compilation of the provisional voters’ register;

• The actual display of the provisional voters’ register during the Objection Period;

• The adjudication of the objection cases by Magistrates;

• The cleaning of the provisional voters’ register and the updating thereof following the ruling

by Magistrates;

• The printing of the Final Voters’ Register and gazetting thereof on 27 May 2014.

The Commissioners, Director and staff would like to thank the Voters who came in their masses to

register, our leaders at all levels, sister government agencies including the Police and Security forces.

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) would like to make use of this opportunity to thank the

electorate, including the entire Namibian nation for the patience and understanding shown by eligible

persons while waiting to be registered as voters at different registration points across the country and at

all Namibia’s foreign missions across the globe.

The ECN wishes to express its profound gratitude to all the staff members who contributed to the

success of this very important and historic milestone. The ECN would also like to extend a special word

of thanks, through the Inspector General of the Namibian Police, to our man and woman in uniform who

participated in this process, for their selfless dedication and professional conduct.

The ECN further wishes to acknowledge and encourage the role played by leaders at the National,

Regional and all other levels in popularizing the GRV. Equally we acknowledge the important role played

by other stakeholders including the media and civil society organization, and Community Leaders. It is

worth noting that the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) through the languages services in

particular played an important role.

On that note, let us congratulate ourselves and celebrate as a Nation the successful 3rd GRV.