WINDHOEK - Namibians were still voting early Thursday, hours after polls were scheduled to close in a presidential and legislative election set to test the ruling party's 34-year grip on power in the southern African nation.
Logistical issues left crowds waiting to vote although polls were scheduled to close at 9pm on Wednesday.
Ballot counting had started at some polling stations with early results initially expected by Saturday according to the electoral calendar.
In the face of criticism from political parties and voters over the long queues, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) said it was extending voting hours.
On Thursday morning, "some people were still voting," ECN spokesman Siluka De Wet told AFP.
At the University of Science and Technology in Windhoek, voting stopped at 05:00 am on Thursday, polling officers told AFP.
The vote could usher in the desert nation's first woman leader even as her party, the ruling South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) faces the strongest challenge to its dominance on politics since Namibia's 1990 independence from South Africa.
After casting her ballot, SWAPO's candidate and current vice president, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, called on the country's 1.5 million people registered to vote "to come out in their numbers".
According to Namibia's electoral law, those in queues before polls close should be allowed to vote.
Some voters told AFP they queued for 12 hours, blaming technical problems, including issues with voter identification tablets and insufficient ballot papers.
Polling site managers told AFP that problems with tablets used to check voters' identities using fingerprints included untimely updates, overheating and dead batteries.