Rehoboth at the Polls

LEADING BY EXAMPLE ... Swapo candidate and deputy minister of Lands and Resettlement, Theo Diergaardt, casts his vote at the Rehoboth Town Council polling station this morning. Diergaardt said that seeing the large turnout at the polling stations made him a proud Namibian. He went on to say that voters must be considerate and allow the elderly and disabled to be given first priority to cast their vote.

COMMITTED TO DEMOCRACY ... The queue of voters outside the Hermanus van Wyk Community Hall stretched all the way to the street. Voters were determined to exercise their vote and were in good spirits as they patiently waited for their turn.

WAITING THEIR TURN ... Pensioners turned up in numbers at the JTL Beukes Primary School in Rehoboth's Block B area. Party observers said they believe the large turn out was because the elderly have more time on their hands than the youth, who were only a handful who voted so far. By 09h00, the station had recorded over 104 voters since the polls opened at 07h00 this morning.

DETERMINED ... Willie Kusch did not let anything stop him from casting his vote at the Rehoboth Town Council offices this morning.

REHOBOTH FIRST ... Swapo candidate Theo Diergaardt and the DTA Rehoboth West candidate Marthinus Christian Kotze shake hands shortly before casting their votes in the regional council and local authority elections in Rehoboth this morning.

HATS OFF ... UPM national chairperson and member of parliament Jan van Wyk was among the first voters to cast their ballot at the Rehoboth Town Council.

SENIORS SHOW THE WAY ... A pensioner, Helena Cloete, was happy to be able to cast her vote this morning at the Reho Spa polling station. An election observer at one of the Rehoboth polling stations observed that it was mostly older people who had come to vote in the early part of the morning.

SAY YOUR SAY ... Lukas de Klerk, DTA candidate for Rehoboth East, casts his ballot at the JTL Beukes Primary School in Rehoboth this morning.

Photos: Yochanaan Coetzee