NamVotes24: The platform revolutionising election results in Namibia

Namvotes24 changed the game in terms of how Namibians accessed timely and relevant results during the 2024 presidential and National Assembly elections.

The online platform achieved significant success, becoming a primary reference point during the recent national polls, but who are the brains behind NamVotes24?

The Namibian spoke to NamVotes24 spokesperson Jona Musheko, who said the platform was created by a group of individuals who faced challenges obtaining live results in Namibia’s previous elections.

Feeling uninformed and in the dark, NamVotes24 was conceptualised.

The website uses multiple sources, such as polling stations and news reports, to extract polling results and provide preliminary live information.

“We saw a need for voters to obtain preliminary information in anticipation of the elections,” Musheko said yesterday.

The innovative platform was developed by a team of seven Namibian information technology (IT) engineers and media professionals, to enhance the dissemination of election results.

The developers compromise two engineers, a professor, two IT specialists and two media and communications professionals.

Musheko said the engineers were responsible for the technical infrastructure, while the professor specialised in data processing, technology and education, and the IT specialists brought some electoral experience.

The team recognised the challenges voters faced in accessing timely and relevant election data and aimed to provide real-time updates and clear interpretations of the election outcomes.

The platform operates by using machine learning algorithms to collect raw data from various constituencies and polling stations.

“This automated process is complemented by human reviewers, who ensure the accuracy of the information presented,” said Musheko.

The website delivered updates every five to 10 minutes during the release of results and provided up-to-date information on the presidential candidates, vote percentages, potential run-offs, and the allocation of parliamentary seats.

Musheko said the development of NamVotes24 was entirely self-funded using the team’s existing resources, such as time, security and data centres.

It attracted over 24 million visitors during the election results release period, indicating its widespread acceptance and trust among the electorate.

Musheko highlighted that NamVotes24 exemplifies how technology and media collaboration can enhance democratic processes by providing timely and accurate election information to the public.

“One of the unique features on the platform that has not been seen anywhere locally is it is automatically allocates the number of seats to each political party, with the names of those members of parliament informed by various political parties’ lists,” he said.

One of the group’s IT specialists, who preferred to only share his first name – Gabriel – told The Namibian the website was viewed by over 14 million people countrywide on election day.

“As a group of young Namibians, we saw a gap between the polling stations and the public, and we wanted to fill that gap,” Gabriel says.

When asked why the group does not want to identify themselves, Gabriel says the young individuals only wanted to help the community, not gain popularity.

“Since we find gaps in the community and we wanted to build solutions, we do not want to receive too much attention from this project,” Gabriel says.

He further says the team faced challenges with data clouds (internet storage services that can be accessed remotely) to store information, security systems and timely polling information.