China: Foreign observers: Tibetan democracy is a moral example to the world | The Tibet Post

Representatives of foreign delegations observed ‘Exile Tibetan Primary Elections’ stressed Sunday that the voting process in Tibetan elections offers lessons for the Future and marked by high turnout. They said that “Tibetans in Exile will further strengthen the moral example they display to the world.” A four-delegates representing the Asia Democracy Network (ADN), the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), and the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) said they “wish to congratulate the Tibetan Community in Exile for turning out in large numbers to exercise their democratic right to select their leaders in a peaceful and orderly manner.” The members of the delegation for the “Tibet Election Monitoring Solidarity Mission” are; Mr Pradip Ghimire coordinator (NEMA); Ms Kanchan Khatri, Program Officer (NEMA); Mr Tur-Od Lkhagvajav, president (TIM); and Mr Ryan D. Whelan, campaign & advocacy coordinator (ANFREL).

Pakistan: Vote Gets Stamp of Approval | Wall Street Journal

International election observers on Monday said Pakistan’s elections were a success and a step forward for the country, despite accusations by losing politicians of vote-rigging in many areas. The preliminary findings by the two largest observer missions—the European Union Election Observation Mission and the joint mission of the National Democratic Institute in the U.S. and the Asian Network for Free Elections—also applauded the high voter turnout, despite high levels of violence. Some 64 people were killed on election day Saturday. Michael Gahler, chief observer of the EU mission, described the election, which was won by the conservative Pakistan Muslim League-N of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, as “competitive and improved despite militant violence.”

National: Internet voting not ready for elections, says DHS official | FierceGovernmentIT

Unresolved technological problems means Internet voting should not yet be deployed to U.S. elections, a Homeland Security Department cybersecurity official told a conference of election officials and watchdogs. “It’s definitely premature to deploy Internet voting in real elections,” said Bruce McConnell, a senior cybersecurity counselor, speaking before the Election Verification Network conference in Santa Fe, N.M. on March 29. “The security infrastructure around Internet voting is both immature and under-resourced,” McConnell told the audience, citing National Institute of Standards and Technology internal reports that summarize technical research on particular subjects. NISTIR 7770 (.pdf), which addresses security considerations of remote electronic voting, states that “achieving a very strict notion of ballot secrecy remains a challenging issue in remote electronic voting systems,’” McConnell noted.

Thailand: Asian Observer Group Commends Thai Election, Cites Minor Flaws | VoAnews

An Asian election monitoring group has hailed Thailand’s nationwide election as final results were tallied for being generally peaceful, orderly and allowing the public to express their voice. But, the Asian Network for Free Elections also cited some flaws in the polls and warned the Thai military not to intervene in politics.

ANFREL congratulated Thailand for holding a peaceful and orderly vote with a large voter turnout. Thailand’s Election Commission estimates more than 70 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in Sunday’s election.