Windhoek: The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has issued a warning to the public, including political parties and associations, regarding the misuse of the provisional voters' register released last Friday. The release follows a supplementary voter registration conducted nationwide from August 4 to August 19, 2025.

According to Namibia Press Agency, the provisional national and local authority voters' registers are available for public inspection and objection until Monday, September 15. ECN Commissioner Pius Iikwambi highlighted that this release is a significant step toward the upcoming Regional Councils and Local Authorities elections scheduled for November 2025. He emphasized that the Electoral Act of 2014 restricts the use of the voters' register to name verification only, prohibiting its use for campaigning by political parties and associations.

Commissioner Iikwambi stressed the importance of transparency while cautioning against any misuse of the voters' register. He explained that the Electoral Act's Section 37 prohibits using the register for purposes unrelated to verification, such as harassment, intimidation, marketing, commercial exploitation, or political profiling.

ECN operations director Zenia Klazen reported that the national voters' register shows 1,499,235 eligible voters for the upcoming regional council elections. The provisional local authority voters' register indicates that 745,429 voters have registered for the forthcoming local authorities elections. Klazen also noted that a total of 109,933 transactions were processed during the recent 14-day supplementary voter registration period, which includes 53,802 new applications, 43,610 amendments, and 12,521 duplicate cards issued. ECN plans to conduct regional elections in all 121 constituencies across 14 regions and local authority elections in 59 local authorities on November 26, 2025.