Namibia extends vote into Saturday over irregularities

Namibia has extended its elections into Saturday after logistic trouble

Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) said some voting stations will remain open as delays in Wednesday’s election angered the opposition even as vote counting continued.

Rivals accused SWAPO of trying to limit voting for the opposition.

The ECN said it had decided to keep 36 polling stations open on Friday and Saturday in response to the criticism.

All had been due to close by 21:00 on Wednesday.

It admitted to a range of problems, including a shortage of ballot papers in a higher than expected turnout and the overheating of tablets used to verify voters.

In some cases, torches used to show up invisible ink had run out of batteries and mobile voting teams had left areas with voters still in the queues.