ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee says it has received intelligence suggesting some political parties are trying to sabotage voting machines ahead of the May 12 election so that electronic voting is scrapped and replaced with the manual system.
The committee said these parties will sabotage the devices an hour before polling stations open so that the commission will have to count votes by hand. It called on the election commission and security forces to secure the devices.
Hakim Zamli, head of the committee, told Rudaw his colleagues have visited some Iraqi regions and found there is an agreement between the heads of polling stations and some unnamed political parties to sabotage electronic voting devices.
The committee has urged the election commission not to count the votes at polling stations where the devices do not work.
Saed Kakei, a member of Iraqi election commission, told Rudaw its officials will use special flash memory drives and hard disks to protect votes.
“We have analyzed all possibilities and prepared … a plan for each possibility” should any issues arise during the transfer of data from polling stations to the main database in Baghdad, he said.
According to the commission, Iraq has purchased 59,800 electronic devices from a Korean company for $100 million.
“These devices, in the shortest amount of time, no more than two hours, and with a margin of error of zero percent, will reveal the election results,” the commission revealed during a demonstration of the electronic ID and ballot readers on Monday.
Electronic or manual?
Some Iraqi parties believe the electronic system is better and prevents fraud. Others are not convinced.
“We have already announced our position that we are in favor of electronic counting [of votes] because it prevents corruption,” said Qahtan Jabouri, spokesperson for Sayirun Coalition.
Nouri al-Maliki, head of the State of Law Coalition, however, prefers manual counting of votes, especially in case where the devices have stopped working. He has demanded the Iraqi Federal Court to insist that votes are counted manually in cases where the electronic devices fail.
The committee said these parties will sabotage the devices an hour before polling stations open so that the commission will have to count votes by hand. It called on the election commission and security forces to secure the devices.
Hakim Zamli, head of the committee, told Rudaw his colleagues have visited some Iraqi regions and found there is an agreement between the heads of polling stations and some unnamed political parties to sabotage electronic voting devices.
The committee has urged the election commission not to count the votes at polling stations where the devices do not work.
Iraq’s election commission says the switch to electronic voting and tallying of votes leaves no room for fraud.
Saed Kakei, a member of Iraqi election commission, told Rudaw its officials will use special flash memory drives and hard disks to protect votes.
“We have analyzed all possibilities and prepared … a plan for each possibility” should any issues arise during the transfer of data from polling stations to the main database in Baghdad, he said.
According to the commission, Iraq has purchased 59,800 electronic devices from a Korean company for $100 million.
“These devices, in the shortest amount of time, no more than two hours, and with a margin of error of zero percent, will reveal the election results,” the commission revealed during a demonstration of the electronic ID and ballot readers on Monday.
Electronic or manual?
Some Iraqi parties believe the electronic system is better and prevents fraud. Others are not convinced.
“We have already announced our position that we are in favor of electronic counting [of votes] because it prevents corruption,” said Qahtan Jabouri, spokesperson for Sayirun Coalition.
Nouri al-Maliki, head of the State of Law Coalition, however, prefers manual counting of votes, especially in case where the devices have stopped working. He has demanded the Iraqi Federal Court to insist that votes are counted manually in cases where the electronic devices fail.
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