Philippine lawmakers grill Miru over controversies surrounding the bidding process and its spotty track record

South Korean voting firm Miru Systems is grappling with mounting controversy following a recent $322 million contract with the Philippines’ Commission on Elections (Comelec) – the nation’s largest-ever polling deal.

The contract has triggered a series of investigations by both houses of Congress, prompted by vocal concerns from election oversight bodies and civil society organizations. These groups have highlighted numerous alleged irregularities within the procurement process, notably that Miru was the only company to submit a bid, supported by the Comelec's previous actions to evade competitors.

Central to the dispute is Miru’s proposition of a prototype voting machine, a submission that Philippine law prohibits. Critics have raised concerns over a potential contravention of the Automated Election Law, which mandates the deployment of systems with a demonstrated track record of success in previous elections. There is unease surrounding Miru's technology, as it amalgamates Optical Mark Reader (OMR) and Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) components, which have not been jointly utilized in past elections, casting doubts on their reliability and legality.

Furthermore, international reports have surfaced detailing issues with Miru’s technology in other countries. Incidences such as faulty voter ID cards disrupting elections in Congo and significant machine malfunctions reported in both Congo and Iraq have only fueled skepticism.

Miru contracts in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been under increased scrutiny after a report by the Center for Research in Public Finance and Local Development, funded by the European Union, revealed malpractices linked to the Congo's Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) and Miru Systems, including corruption and signs of money laundering. The report highlighted that Miru secured nine contracts in the DR Congo worth over $321 million, with just one undergoing a competitive tender. Notably, the electoral commission procured excess voter cards and ballots and prematurely classified functional voter registration kits as obsolete, leading to unnecessary increased procurement costs and casting doubt on the integrity of contract allocations.

Even worst, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned three senior CENI officials ‘following persistent corruption’. According to the US Treasury Office, Congolese election officials inflated by as much as $100 million the costs for the electronic voting machine contract (signed with Miru) with the intent to use surplus funds for personal enrichment, bribes, and campaign costs to fund the election campaign of Kabila's candidate.

“(…) CENI officials, awarded an election-related contract and doubled the award amount on the understanding that the winning company [Miru] would award the extra funds to a DRC company controlled by CENI leadership.”

As the Philippine Congress delves into the depths of Miru Systems' controversial multi-million dollar contract and the company's questionable track record, concerns raised by both domestic and international entities cast a long shadow over the upcoming 2025 elections. These findings underscore the critical need for transparency, due diligence, and adherence to the rule of law in election-related procurements—a call echoed by vigilant lawmakers and committed civil society advocates. The journey towards a free, fair, and credible election stands at a crossroads, with the integrity of democratic processes in the Philippines, and potentially in other nations, hinging on the outcomes of these rigorous investigations.

Chaos in DR Congo: Tech Glitches, Violence, and Poor Logistics Taint Elections

Voters had to wait for hours outside polling centers

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) pursuit of democratic consolidation faced a significant setback in the 2023 presidential elections. This high-stakes election, which had the potential to mark the second peaceful civilian-to-civilian transition since the country’s independence in 1960, wound up marred by violence, logistical challenges, and widespread malfunctioning of election technology provided by Miru Systems.

Election technology, central to the electoral proceedings, were expected to streamline and secure the vote. However, the CENCO-ECC observation mission’s report starkly highlighted that nearly 45.1% of polling stations faced technical issues with these devices. Reports from the media detailed numerous equipment breakdowns and technical glitches that caused substantial delays and voter confusion, directly impacting the credibility and smooth conduct of the polls.

With the essential act of voting compromised, election authorities were compelled to extend the electoral process by an additional day, attempting to mitigate the disenfranchisement of voters who faced disruptions. However, this extension was not enough to quell the rising discontent. Five presidential candidates have called into question the integrity of the elections, demanding that the process be nullified and redone.

A pre-election report by the Carter Center, issued weeks prior to the election day, had already flagged serious issues with the registration kits also provided by Miru Systems. Voter cards, necessary for casting ballots, were found to have smudged information due to faulty thermal printers included in the kits, which led to unreadable cards. Inefficient voter identification processes frequently result in protracted queues and can lead to disenfranchisement of voters.

Adding to the list of technological calamities, the durability and reliability of voter data on the newly issued ID cards were also in doubt. In some troubling instances, as reported by Africa News, personal information vanished from the voter ID cards, raising concerns over voter disenfranchisement and data security. These cards, which are vital for the identification of eligible voters, were also supplied by Miru Systems.

Despite the shortcomings, authorities have been resolute in their plan to announce preliminary results by December 31, with official results expected by January 10 at the latest. The inauguration of the new president is to follow ten days after the official results are made public.

Election experts warn against RFID-based voting systems

A voting system which uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to store electronic votes has been under scrutiny after election experts questioned its capacity to safeguard the integrity of election data. 

Though the voting system had been tested in a few Argentine jurisdictions, academics from around the world had not had a real chance to analyze it in detail until authorities from the Democratic Republic of Congo decided to use a similar system for the long-delayed elections of December, 2018. The decision to automate the controversial elections using an untested system drew criticism from U.S. diplomats.

According to experts from The Sentry, it is possible to manipulate the information the RFID chip contains, since the use of this unique identifier technology and radio communications give off signals that can be easily detected at distances greater than expected. Experts recommend election officials to refrain from implementing this type of technology. 

RFID technology is well known for its usefulness in tracking inventories, but its use extends to other industries, from bookstores and apparel to health and transportation. The main benefit of having RFIDs is that it allows quick communication with remote sensors. Nonetheless, however useful RFID may be for certain industries, elections are an entirely different ballgame. The capacity to allow remote sensors to read the information it contains opens the door for bad actors to hack the votes. 

An RFID-based system was ruled out in Israel in 2010 as it was considered unsafe. Researchers Yossef Oren and Avishai Wool, from the Tel-Aviv University, demonstrated that the secret of the vote was compromised with such type of systems. In their paper, they “show how the proposed system can be completely compromised using low-cost relay attacks. Our attacks allow an adversary to read out all votes already cast into the ballot box, suppress the votes of one or several voters, rewrite votes at will and even completely disqualify all votes in a single voting station. Our attacks are easy to mount, very difficult to detect, and compromise both the confidentiality and the integrity of the election system.”

The future of this technology is unknown. For now, only a few Argentine provinces have dared to use it. The elections in Congo, which led to weeks of post-election violence and political unrest, are a testament to what a poorly designed election system can do to the legitimacy of elections.

Congolese elections surrounded by controversy

Congo is scheduled to hold elections on December 23. However, the results of the election are already the source of much controversy. 

For months, activists, international observers and even the government of the United States have warned that the election system to be deployed for the first time can be manipulated. Recent corruption scandals involving the vendor who provided the voting machines (Miru Systems), a fire that incinerated some voting machines, in addition to activist protesting against the use of the technology have increased tensions ahead of the polls. 

Security experts have voiced their concern surrounding the more than 100 thousand machines that will be deployed on the day of the election. A report from the Sentry published in June revealed "potential threats to the secrecy of the ballot and manipulation of results." The Sentry is a surveillance group that investigates corruption and problems in Africa.

Lorenzo Hall, Chief technologist at the Washington-based Center for Democracy & Technology, stated in the Sentry report: “QR codes may store more information than simply a voter’s ballot selections, potentially including the time a person voted, their place in line and other voter-specific or ballotspecific identifiers. This information can be used to correlate the contents of a ballot to a specific voter’s identity, violating ballot secrecy.”

Recently, a fire in Congo’s capital destroyed nearly 80 percent of the capital city’s voting machines just 10 days before the presidential election. Officials claimed that the blaze, which burned nearly 8,000 of the capital’s 10,368 voting, appeared to be criminal but vowed that it would not disrupt the vote. 

Adding to the controversy, Miru System, the company that provided the voting machines has been embroiled in corruption scandals in South Korea. Authorities in the Asian country are investigating whether or not A-WEB, an Association of World Election Bodies funded by the South Korean government, used its influence to help Miru Systems sign multi-million dollar deals in Congo and elsewhere. 

Congolese activists who live in Korea have asked the Korean government to ban Miru Systems from supplying the machines to his country. Although their voices have not been heard, both A-WEB and the South Korean government have issued statements distancing themselves from Miru Systems and the Congolese election.