The Electoral Commission of Namibia's Head Office on Van Rhijn Street in the capital will be a hive of activity tomorrow as five shortlisted candidates will be publicly interviewed for the position of Chief Electoral and Referenda Officer.

This is the second time in ECN history that public interviews will take place for this position. The first was in 2018, when now-outgoing Theo Mujoro, whose term ends in August, was selected.

The five candidates, all male, who will brave the panellists' questions are Vincent Sazita, Petrus Shaama, Helmut Nawaseb, Oscar Muyatwa, and Michael Tjivikua.

They will face a panel of ECN commissioners chaired by Elsie Nghikembua, and the public will be in the audience as silent observers.

nbc News spoke to local analysts who shared their thoughts on this process.

Graham Hopwood welcomed the procedure and described it as accountable and transparent. "This is a more transparent and open system, and we just hope the Namibian voters get involved in evaluating the system and various candidates."

He added that the incoming Electoral and Referenda Officer has a daunting task ahead, and he hopes that the successful candidate will rise to the challenge.

"The elections themselves are highly pressurised events, often subject to disputes and sometimes court cases, so they have to have a fairly strong character."

Rui Tyitende, a political analyst, also weighed in on the matter, saying that as a custodian of elections, one should be impartial and not raise eyebrows, come election time.

According to De Wet Siluka, ECN's Manager for Corporate Communication and Marketing, it is all systems go for tomorrow.

He stressed that the public will be seated in an observer-only capacity and is not expected to pose any questions to the interviewees.

Doors open at 08h00, and all attendees should be seated by 09:30.

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Lahia Hatutale