The Afghan government is in talks with the international community about introducing an electronic voting system that will help ensure transparency and cut down on election costs, the CEO’s office confirmed on Tuesday.
“We are in talks with the international community about using technology in the elections; by using technology in the elections it will help to ensure transparency and curb financial expenditures,” said the CEO’s deputy spokesman Jawed Faisal.
Meanwhile, e-voting experts have said the system cuts down on the chances of vote rigging and it helps with audits and results.
“This technology also has the ability to audit (results) and votes are transferred electronically to the (main) center; this technology guarantees transparency 100 percent and there is no chance of infiltration in the system,” said e-voting expert Sayed Khalid.
Should the system be implemented, Afghanistan would be among the few countries in the world where voters do not need to re-register for a second time and Afghanistan’s election system would be able to access voter lists.
“The e-voting system has a lot of advantages, first it helps to ensure authenticity of the work and speed, it also improves transparency. I think with the implementation of an e-voting system, we can revive the confidence lost in the election commission,” said Maazullah Dawlati, a commissioner of the Independent Election Commission (IEC).
Currently twenty countries, including the United States and some European countries, are using e-voting systems.
The technology which is used in an e-voting system helps to announce the results of elections within only three hours after polls have closed.
Fraud and vote rigging during the elections have been among the major concerns of the Afghan people in the past and allegations of fraud during the 2014 presidential elections severely eroded trust in the election process for Afghans.
After the establishment of the National Unity Government (NUG), under President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah, the two leaders pledged to take firm steps to reform the election system in Afghanistan.
Electoral experts however believe that with the implementation of an e-voting system in the country, the election management bodies will be able to announce the election results within three days of the nation having voted.