Logistical problems, including problems with electronic tablets used to verify voters’ identities and insufficient ballot papers, forced crowds to queue until the early hours of Thursday in the southern African country on Wednesday .

Although polling stations were due to close at 9:00 p.m. (19:00 GMT) on Wednesday, those who queued before that time were allowed to remain to vote, in accordance with Namibia’s electoral law.

Armed with folding chairs and umbrellas to cope with slow queues and the blazing sun, Namibians among the 1.5 million registered voters spent hours waiting outside polling stations, some up to 12 hours.

At the University of Science and Technology in the capital Windhoek, voting stopped at 5 a.m. Thursday, poll officials told AFP.

“It’s absolutely disappointing,” said Reagan Cooper, a 43-year-old farmer among about 100 voters outside the Windhoek City Hall polling station.

“Voters went to vote, but the electoral commission did not meet our expectations,” Cooper told AFP.

Facing criticism from political parties and voters over long queues, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has extended voting hours. “Some people were still voting,” ECN spokesperson Siluka De Wet told AFP on Thursday morning.

Before these delays, the first results were due to be published on Saturday.

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– “Frustrate voters” –

Political parties whose candidates were running in the simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections were invited to meet the ECN at noon on Thursday to address complaints about the process.

The opposition Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) party was among those who blamed the electorate for the long queues and cried foul.

“We have reason to believe that the ECN is deliberately suppressing voters and deliberately trying to prevent them from voting,” said Christine Aochamus, head of the IPC.

The vote could mark the start of the desert country’s first female leader, even as her ruling South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO) party faces the biggest challenge to its political dominance since Namibia’s independence in 1990 from South Africa.

But SWAPO candidate and current vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah could also face an unprecedented runoff, analysts say.

The long queues are “a signal that people really want change”, said Ndumba Kamwanyah, a lecturer in the Department of Humanities at the University of Namibia.

“To me it seems that this is not good news for the ruling party,” he told AFP.

– Unemployment –

SWAPO has governed since leading mineral-rich Namibia to independence, but complaints about unemployment and persistent inequality could damage its standing in these elections.

IPC leader Panduleni Itula, a former dentist and lawyer, said Wednesday he was optimistic about his ability to “overthrow the revolutionary movement.”

Namibia is a major exporter of uranium and diamonds, but few of its nearly three million people have benefited from this wealth.

“There is a lot of mining activity in the country, but that doesn’t really translate into improved infrastructure or job opportunities,” said independent political analyst Marisa Lourenco, based in Johannesburg.

“That’s where a lot of the frustration comes from, (especially) young people,” she said.

The unemployment rate for 15-34 year olds is estimated at 46 percent, according to the latest figures from 2018, almost triple the national average.