Azerbaijan considering electronic voting system for next election

It is not terribly common to find discussions of advancing democracy coming from countries that are perhaps more associated with communism or socialism. However, it is perhaps from these previously political states that the emergence of truly fair, free and open democracy can have among the greatest impact, as just might be the case for Azerbaijan.

The former member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or “Soviet Union”) recently held its major national election on November 1. The ruling Yeni Azerbaijan (“New Azerbaijan”) party, headed by President Ilham Aliyev, was re-elected with a sizable majority, taking 71 of the 125 seats in the country's parliament. As a result, Aliyev will be leading the country for another five years.

Unfortunately, this election was not without its fair share of controversy. There have been allegations of ballot stuffing at a number of the polls, for instance, as well as the noted boycott by several of the nation's leading opposition parties. These include the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF), the Musavat party, and the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan. According to the NCDF, the polls in Azerbaijan are “fully falsified” and do not accurately reflect the will of the people of Azerbaijan.

A democracy cannot be fully respected and hold the legitimate seat of power if the nation's people do not trust in the integrity of the electoral process, especially when leading opposition parties boycott the polls. This leads to an inherent skewing of the results, even though voter turnout was a mere 55.7 percent.

To move the democracy forward and to earn the respect of the Azerbaijan people, the electoral process in the nation is in desperate need of reform. If the integrity of the election is not trusted, then neither can the results and this can lead to further political upheaval. Thankfully, the November 1 election was conducted in a peaceful manner with no major stories of violence.

Looking ahead to the next election in 2020, the greater possibility of a free, fair, open and transparent election is possible, one where the major opposition parties may not feel compelled to boycott. During a briefing on October 9, Azerbaijan Central Election Commission (CEC) Information Center Director Rufat Gulmammadov indicated that electronic voting technology could be suitably launched in the nation.

“If this issue is reflected in the legislation, I believe that it can be resolved without any problems from the technical point of view,” stated Gulmammadov. “If the issue of electronic voting will be reflected in legislation of the country, this corporate network can act as a platform for the launch of e-voting.”

He is referring to the corporate network of the CEC itself, which can operate as the framework for an e-voting system in Azerbaijan's national elections. The network has been in operation for more than three years and has already been used successfully in previous elections. The next major step would be for the parliament of Azerbaijan to pass legislation that would facilitate the widespread adoption and deployment of e-voting technology.

With greater reliability and transparency, an electronically-powered election in Azerbaijan may be ready for 2020. Perhaps then, the results will not be as heavily disputed and a point of rampant controversy as this most current election. 

Tanzania weighing its e-voting options for October election

Many of the most exciting advances in electronic voting technology aren't necessarily being witnessed in first-world countries with high-end modern technology is a part of everyday life. Instead, it is in several developing nations around the world that e-voting, e-counting, and i-voting are receiving grassroots level support in part of a concerted effort to modernize these countries. 

Several countries in Africa have either already launched pilot projects in this field or are currently exploring the possibilities of doing so in upcoming elections. One example of particular note is Tanzania, where the country's general election is currently scheduled to take place this October. The National Electoral Commission (NEC) of Tanzania is being urged to not allow the country to be “left behind” in this “digital era,” being encouraged to implement electronic voting machines (EVMs), biometric voter registration (BVM), or a combination thereof. 

This follows in the example of other African countries that have already utilized some form of electronic-based technology as part of their democratic elections. As voter identification and voter verification are of critical importance, regular photo ID cards may not be sufficient to prevent voter fraud. To this end, the Tanzanian government has already decreed that a new biometric voting registration technology will be replacing the old voting system.

Indeed, the registration of voters using BVR is slated to start in February, well in advance of the October polls. Permanent Secretary Dr. Florens Turuka has indicated that the old voter identity cards will no longer be valid and all voters will need to register themselves through the new biometric system in order to qualify for voting in the upcoming general election. The system and technology have already been tested in three constituencies and every registered voter will receive new identification cards from the National Electoral Commission. 

Biometric voter registration and identification have already been used elsewhere in Africa, but some recent examples have been met with technical glitches and limited success. The system used in Kenya, which was co-developed by the Government of Canada and a sub-contractor called Morpho Canada, experienced numerous failures and some say this may have been caused by “massive fraud.” The elections in Ghana were marred with attempts at double registration and the theft of verification machines.

With both of these instances, the problems can likely be linked back to two culprits. First, human error and tampering can be problematic. Second, the systems may not have been properly secured and audited to ensure they would perform as needed for the elections in question. Tanzania needs to learn from the attempts in Kenya and Ghana, ensuring that they only contract respectable vendors with strong track records and that they ensure the proper security measures are in place to protect against those seeking to maliciously influence election results. 

As with Nigeria, Tanzania is still a transitioning nation and it will take time to move the country forward into the digital age for modernizing its democratic process. While it had its share of challenges, the recent elections in Namibia can also serve as a lesson and an example for modernizing elections on the African continent. Namibia was the first country in Africa to use direct-recording electronic voting machines. That is a major milestone. 

The Tanzanian election is only a few short months away. It will likely face many difficulties along the way, but a commitment to biometric voter authentication and the possible exploration into electronic voting machines or electronic counting of ballots represent positive strides in the right direction.

Evaluating Namibia's first election with e-voting

Some of the greatest progress in the adoption and expansion of electronic voting technology has not necessarily been witnessed in first-world countries, but rather in developing nations with relatively young democracies. Namibia achieved a very notable milestone on November 28, as the national election on that day was the first time that direct recording e-voting machines had been used on the African continent. It was also the first time that the entire country—with a total of some 1.2 million ballots cast—voted on a single day, unlike previous elections in Namibia that were spread over two days. 

E-voting technology is not completely new to Africa. Biometric authentication has already been implemented in countries like Kenya and Ghana, with electronic transmission of results also being utilized in the former. However, the e-voting experience in both of those countries was marred with a number of issues due to poor implementation and improper management. Namibia also experienced its share of problems. 

The deployment and utilization of direct recording e-voting machines was “a big achievement for Namibia and the African continent at large,” according to Namibia Electoral Commission chairwoman Nontemba Tjipueja. The goal was that results would be coming through on the same day following the closing of the polls with the final results being announced within 24 hours. 

However, that was not the case with Electoral Commission Director Paul Isaak being forced to apologize for the delays. While the election was scheduled to end at 9pm local time on a Friday evening, some polling stations remained open until Saturday morning and only 30 percent of the votes had been counted, verified and released by late on the Sunday evening. 

The electronic voting machines used in the Namibian election were sourced from India, a country that has had some success with e-voting itself. All of the voter verification machines used in Namibia were loaded with the entirety of the national voters register, including the necessary biometric and biographical data to authenticate the voters. This was designed to expedite voter verification and shorten the time needed to cast a ballot. 

The cost of running an electronic-based election has also come under scrutiny with some critics saying that the Namibian Electoral Commission gave priority to an Indian business rather than to the voters of Namibia. The devices were meant to be accessible and low cost, but they were sold “as if they were next-generation.” Different figures have been reported as to the final cost, though the consensus appears to be that the 3400 EVMs were purchased for $10 million Namibian, which worked out to US$948,000 at the prevailing exchange rate at the time. That is approximately US$278 per voting machine. 

The makers of the voting machines used, Bharat Electronic Limited from Bangalore, India, have defended their product, saying that it is tamper-proof and it was not the cause for the election result delays. They say that the device cannot be re-programmed and altered after the initial programming during the manufacturing process. 

Based on some of the problems experienced by Namibia, other African nations that are considering e-voting technology -like South Sudan and Nigeria- will need to re-evaluate the direction they wish to take. And while there were problems with delays, South African observers have noted that the Namibian polls were “free and fair.” 

There is still much room for improvement with e-voting in Africa and the Namibian election can serve as an initial example of what went well and what areas need further attention. In particular, it highlights the importance of sourcing a reliable and trustworthy vendor for the e-voting machines, as well as the importance of pre-election audits to test the functionality of the infrastructure. Proper planning and management are absolutely paramount. 

Youthful tech-savvy electorate empowered in 2014 India election

Source: Google Images

The recently concluded Lok Sabha Elections in India were particularly noteworthy for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that it is the largest ever election on record anywhere in the world. Over 550 million voters headed to the polls during an election which was held in nine phases from April 7 to May 12, 2014. With an estimated 814.5 million people eligible to vote, this represents a voter turnout of over 66%, the highest ever in any of India's general elections.

Two of the major driving forces in India's general election were the rise of the youth vote and the growing adoption of electronic voting technology. Indeed, even in as small a demographic as eligible voters aged 18 to 19 years, there was a massive cohort of 23 million people. This is nearly three percent of the total number of voters. What's more, the voting youth of India are more engaged than ever with the politics of their country.

“The youth played a major role in these elections,” said Mukhtar Abbas Nagvi, Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP led the National Democratic Alliance, which won the election by clinching 336 of the available 543 Lok Sabha seats. “Due to social media, we got support from a large section of population through Facebook, Twitter, etc.”

The growing importance of appealing to younger voters has been observed not only in India, but also in other parts of the world. Some have dubbed it the “Obama effect,” as American President Barack Obama leveraged the “disruptive power of technology and youth” to achieve his victory in 2008. In the case of India, visionary and idealistic political youth are utilizing social media, mobile, analytics and cloud technologies to address issues and raise voter awareness among their age group and beyond.

The youth-driven political start-ups are non-partisan in nature and they utilize the range of technology to best express and distribute their message. Some of the more notable political start-ups in India include GrassRoute, MumbaiVotes, Know Your Vote and iForIndia. The increased prevalence of the Internet and the higher rate of literacy among India's youth further embolden their desire to have their political voices heard and to empower their ability to do so too.

In the case of iForIndia, the web-based citizen engagement platform collects and analyzes data regarding the performance of an elected official. The generated “report card” improves accountability in real time. “We will share the data with the media and invite the politicians and public for active engagements,” said iForIndia co-founder Akur Garg. “The website will also serve as a mirror to inform the politicians where they stand in people's perception, which areas they are doing well in and which ones require more attention.”

Technology and the Internet certainly played very important roles leading up to the 2014 elections in India, particularly among the younger and more tech-savvy demographic, but technology was also heavily influential in how the elections themselves were run. Indeed, in order to reach the hundreds of millions of eligible voters, India deployed approximately 1.4 million e-voting machines across the 930,000 polling stations across the country over the course of the nine-phase election period.

Considering the massive scale of the multi-week election that involved hundreds of millions of voters, concerns over voter literacy, dozens of political parties and over one million e-voting machines, India could serve as a glowing example of democracy for the rest of the world.