site.bta Electronic Voting More Secure Than Conventional Voting - Discussion in Parliament

Electronic Voting More Secure Than Conventional Voting - Discussion in Parliament

Sofia, March 22 (BTA) - Remote electronic voting is more secure than conventional voting with ballot papers, according to MPs and participants in a discussion in Parliament on Tuesday.

The roundtable was organized by Reformist Bloc MPs Martin Dimitrov and Peter Slavov. The participants also included Mariana Todorova MP of ABV, Metodi Andreev MP of GERB, Yavor Haitov MP of the Bulgarian Democratic Centre, experts and NGO representatives.

Martin Dimitrov said that with ballot papers, vote rigging can be done by an election commissioner or through tally sheet switching, while e-voting largely deals with rigging and eliminates the problem of invalid ballot papers.

Bozhidar Bozhanov, advisor to Deputy Prime Minister Roumyana Buchvarova, presented technological guarantees for e-voting. If an electronic system is to be trustworthy, it must have an open exit code accessible to the public. With e-voting the result is immune to fixing and all votes are public except the voter's identity. There is the option of a panic PIN code which voters can type if someone is exerting pressure on them.

Peter Slavov argued that the technology of e-voting must be legally regulated in such a way so as to stand in the Constitutional Court.

Mariana Todorova from ABV urged Parliament to choose one option for e-voting.

Yavor Haitov of the Bulgarian Democratic Centre spoke in support of e-voting.

Antoaneta Tsoneva of the Institute for Public Environment Development spoke about the large Bulgarian diaspora and the need to provide an opportunity for expatriate Bulgarians to vote.

Martin Dimitrov said that e-voting brings competition and does not waive the possibility to vote with ballots. The MP said that the people who believe in voting by casting a ballot will have the right to vote in this way. He recalled that there was fear and resistance to the Internet uploading of the "State Gazette" some years ago.

Dimitrov said further that the chances of having e-voting are big. "The crux of the matter is to provide e-voting in an intelligent and smart way," he said, adding that a discussion of the details is forthcoming.