Electronic voting: Election commission cautiously weighing proposal

E-governance techniques of interest to ECP, political parties, but rigging fears remain.

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is not averse to the use of technology. In fact, its SMS service helped many registered voters locate their polling stations before the May 11 general elections in 2013.

But after the polls, there were some allegations of rigging and fresh polls were called for a few seats. The national debate became focused on using better methods to cast and count votes, with some political parties and their supporters suggesting technology be employed to reduce the chances of traditional rigging in the electoral process.

The ECP is not disinclined to the use of electronic voting machines and biometric voter authentication, but it is “cautious” in its approach to technology utilisation, said one ECP official who requested anonymity.

“Technology is like chemotherapy,” the official said. “It should be administered slowly and gradually.”

The ECP official, some of his colleagues, politicians and representatives from provincial governments were in attendance at a session on Thursday, where Smartmatic Ltd, a UK-based firm that produces elections and eGovernance infrastructure technology, pitched its products and gave a demonstration.

The British High Commission and Roseace, a local electronics distributor, helped organise the session, which was titled the “Use of Technology in Electoral Process: Biometric Voter Authentication and Electronic Voting.”

Cesar Flores, the president of Smartmatic Asia, gave a detailed presentation on the way his firm’s “next-generation” voting machines work, citing Venezuela and the Philippines as examples of countries using its solutions.

Flores said that in Venezuela, technology has helped the fractious government and opposition avoid conflict over elections because independent audits of the electronic voting machines helped establish credibility.

To a concern raised by Muttahid Qaumi Movement MNA Farooq Sattar about some political party buying expensive software to hack in to the machines, Flores said there were multiple levels of security in the machines. He said the machines operated in a decentralised manner, so one hacking attempt cannot bring them down.

Flores also said that before his firm sells the solutions, the political parties of a country are allowed to examine the software code of the machines. On Election Day, the parties can agree on audits of the counting.

Sattar said smart technology can lead to “smart elections” and said his party will send some queries to the company about their products.

But ECP representatives seemed skeptical, if not totally dismissive. They said technology, if introduced in a “hurry,” can lead to unexpected problems on polling day and technological glitches can be expensive to resolve at the last minute.

If the ECP adopts electronic voting or voter authentication technology, it will be the commission’s independent decision, ECP officials said.

They meant they will not be pressurised in to making an early choice by political parties.

“We are not ruling out the use of technology, of course,” an ECP employee in the audience said. “But we are looking at testing electronic voter machines through pilot projects at a lower-tier of government.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2014.