Namibia becomes the first African country to adopt the e-voting technology with the Southern African country set to use electronic ballots as it goes to polls on Friday.

The e-Voting Machines, or EVMs, were acquired at a cost of 24 million Namibia dollars from an Indian company and according to the company, they are equipped with technology that is designed to eliminate flaws and address the scepticism of some political parties questioning the transparency of the Namibian electoral body.

The machines have features like photos party candidates photos together with other information next to the casting button. Voters will just have to click on their preferred candidate or party during elections to vote.

It should be noted that India successfully used half-a-million Electronically Voting Machines of the same type during its 2009 general elections.

Namibians will choose 96 members of the national assembly and one of nine presidential candidates, ranging from the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters to the white minority Republican Party. About1.2 million Namibians are expected to cast their ballots at nearly 4,000 electronic voting stations across the country.

The country will be going to the polls on Friday. Prior to this the opposition parties had launched an 11th-hour challenge to the use of the Indian-made e-voting machines, claiming the lack of a paper trail could open the door to vote rigging but the Windhoek High Court dismissed the application today, leaving the door open for the election to go ahead as planned.