The government of Indonesia is pondering the idea of implementing electronic voting platforms for the presidential and legislative elections of 2019.
For this, Indonesia is using their Filipino neighbours as a reference, since that country has automated their last three elections quite successfully. According to a Pulse Asia survey, and given the success of automation, 9 out of 10 Filipinos wants their future elections to be automated.
The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT in Indonesian) is aiming to develop an electronic voting platform that would bring about more reliable, transparent and secure elections, with greater guarantees for audits and accuracy.
The Chairman of the BPPT, Marzan Iskandar, also highlighted the savings that would be generated by the use of electoral technology: expenses would be 25% less, when compared to manual systems and the great amounts of paper they require.
Iskandar urged public bodies to pave the legal way for the implementation of electoral technology so there is a legal framework opening the door to a modernization of the 2019 elections.
Soedarmo, director general of politics and general government at the Home Affairs Ministry, commented during an interview for the Jakarta Globe that this reform aims to minimize voter fraud and get electoral results in minutes.
Source: Antara News