More people are calling for the implementation of an electronic voting system (e-voting) in next year’s concurrent regional elections. The Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) said on Wednesday that holding electronic-based elections (e-elections) was actually feasible and that they could begin as soon as next year. “If the General Elections Commission [KPU] gives the green light, e-elections can start [in 2015],” BPPT researcher and former chief Marzan Aziz Iskandar said during a discussion on e-voting at the agency’s headquarters in Jakarta. He said that the BPPT had conducted research on the feasibility of e-elections. “The research and the development [of the technology for e-elections] is complete and the needed equipment is available,” Marzan said. He said that the technology had been demonstrated and tested during some gubernatorial elections. “We have already used the technology in some village head elections,” said Marzan.
The KPU is mulling the possibility of carrying out e-elections for the concurrent regional elections next year. Discussion on e-elections began when former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued a regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) on the mechanisms for local elections last month.
Article 85 of the Perppu stipulates that voting can be done electronically or by paper ballot, while Article 98 says that if the KPU chooses electronic balloting then the votes can be counted manually or electronically.
Marzan said that the legal basis for an e-election was strong enough. “So the KPU only needs to issue a regulation, there’s no need for a higher law,” he said.
Full Article: Calls mount for e-elections with available technology | The Jakarta Post.