John Likando, a Swapo MP in the National Council, is urging the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) to accelerate preparations for the General Registration of Voters (GRV) following recent amendments to the Electoral Act.

He emphasised the importance of this exercise and called for unified support from all legislators to aid the ECN in this crucial process.

The National Assembly this week approved an amendment to the Electoral Act that allows for the general registration of voters to take place after the prescribed time frame.

Initially, the process, which happens every 10 years, was supposed to have taken place between April 2024 and July 2024. But now it can take place no later than August 31, 2024.

"Our voter's cards have become souvenirs; we need to speed up the process to get the new ones because some of the expected results from the ECN say there'll be changes in terms of signs of constituencies, even names. We are all aware that when we started, we started with very few constituencies. Today, we are in 121 constituencies."

Another Swapo MP, Christopher Likuwa, stated that people in informal settlements are denied the renewal of their voter cards because they do not have proper residential addresses or municipal accounts.

LPM MP Harald Kambrude also contributed to the discussion, expressing concern over what he regards as people being denied their constitutional rights as contained in Article 17, which guarantees political participation in political activities.