Responding to concerns raised by representatives of churches and civil society organisations about the state of readiness of the Regional Councils and Local Authorities elections in November, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) said it is well on track with the preparations.

Speaking to NBC News, ECN's Corporate Communications Manager, De Wet Siluka, outlined the calendar leading up to the elections.

"We have successfully completed the supplementary registration of voters, which commenced on the 4th of August and ended on the 19th of August, and that followed the publication and announcement of the provisional voters register. The provisional voters register was then published on 12 September, and then the display commenced from 12 September to 15 September in all the 121 constituencies, and 59 local authorities, and the papers were for the electorate to inspect the inclusion or non-inclusion of the names in the provisional voters register."

Siluka further said nomination of candidates will commence on 26 September and close on 14 October.

The last day for independent candidate nominations will be the 14th of October, and the last day for political parties will be the 16th of October, followed by a public sitting.

"We wish to urge the aspiring candidates – both political parties, associations, organisations and independent candidates – to ensure that they submit their applications for nomination on time. We have established a help desk at the ECN headquarters to assist with the technicalities in terms of uploading and completing the nomination through our ECN political party and candidate management system. We have also trained political parties and associations on how to complete their nominations online."

Siluka further said the applications for accreditation of observers and media are now available on their website, and they can be downloaded, completed and submitted to the commission or via email. 

The commission has established 4,861 polling stations across the country with 2,984 teams and expects recruitment of over 20,000 election officials.