The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) is calling on young people to take the lead in the Presidential and National Assembly Elections slated for November 27th.

The ECN just launched its electoral calendar, which contains all electoral activities. 

The general voter registration will take place from the 3rd of June to the 1st of August.

The Chief Electoral and Referenda Officer, Petrus Shaama, says the Commission has been preparing for the elections to ensure a seamless process.

However, Shaama says there will always be challenges, including a possible low voter turnout.

He notes, though, that the ECN has come up with a strategy to ensure that young people do show up at the polls.

"The young people must have the courage to stand up and make it known that they have political views, and they are going to express them by going to the polls and voting. So it has to be crucial because in our elections, the turnout is going down, and it is probably because young people are turned off in various ways, and we really have to this year spend a lot of energy and effort on encouraging young people to take part in this process."

The Executive Director at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Graham Hopwood, says that young people must get involved in elections.

"As you can see, the youth are taking up the largest portion of our voter population, so we want the youth to take the lead. That is why we even introduce the lead youth ambassadors so that we can encourage the youth to take part in registration and eventually vote."

The lead Youth Ambassador, Oriana Ribeiro, says most young people do not participate in the election due to a lack of knowledge. 

Namibia and the other four SADC countries, such as South Africa, Botswana, Mauritius, and Mozambique, will be holding elections as well.