Why Kazakhstan Is Not Ready for Electronic Voting Yet

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Kazakhstan does not plan to introduce electronic voting in the near future, Central Election Commission secretary Shavkat Utemisov said, Orda.kz reports.

According to him, electronic voting is used only in a limited number of countries, and some have already abandoned it.

We are not considering the introduction of electronic voting now. Our colleagues travel abroad, observe elections and study this issue. There are 193 countries in the world, and only about 40 use electronic voting, either fully or in pilot mode. At the same time, there is a trend where countries first introduce this system and then abandon it. For example, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway first introduced it, and then refused,he said on the sidelines of the government.

Utemisov said the main risk is cybersecurity.

The main issue is protecting the vote of every voter. It is necessary to ensure that the system records exactly how a person voted. But at the same time, the risk of interference remains, and this raises serious concerns,Utemisov explained.

He also noted that introducing an electronic system would require major spending on equipment and cybersecurity. According to him, the CEC website already faces seven to eight attacks per week, and their number would increase during elections.

Original author: Alina Elgeldina

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