WINDHOEK: The first trickle of results in Namibia’s general election gave the ruling SWAPO party a commanding lead yesterday, even as political parties expressed concern over the continent’s first e-vote.
With less than one percent of the vote declared, the Electoral Commission of Namibia said yesterday that 73-year-old Prime Minister Hage Geingob was winning the presidential vote with almost 81 percent and his closest rival trailing in single digits.
Namibian voters cast their ballots late into the night on Friday, in an election billed as Africa’s first electronic vote.
Opposition parties had launched an 11th-hour court challenge just days before the election to stop the electronic vote from going ahead, saying the use of the voting machines could facilitate vote rigging.
But the Windhoek High Court dismissed the application.AFP
