EC: Complex issues to be addressed before e-voting can be introduced

PUTRAJAYA: Several concerns need to be addressed before a decision can be made to introduce electronic-voting or e-voting in Malaysia, says the Election Commission (EC).

Its chairman Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun said that the main concern of the EC is the way to convince voters that the right election candidate gets their vote.

"We need to see how we can satisfy voters, that what they vote is put into the system. When we want to do e-voting, this is the difficult part.

"We need to be able to prove to voters that when they vote for A, their vote will go to candidate A," he said.

Azhar was speaking to reporters after a discussion with members of the parliamentary special select committee on elections led by Ledang MP Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh and the special select committee on major public appointments led by Selayang MP William Leong at the EC headquarters.

He said another issue which the commission needs to address is to safeguard the system from potential hacking, adding that the views of experts would also have to be considered.

Proponents of e-voting have said that governments would save millions on the printing of ballot papers, distribution, security and logistics if technology is used in place of the traditional voting system.

They also claim that e-voting would result in increased voter turnout with more young people exercising their rights and also allow quicker checks for invalid or spoilt votes and for results to be known much earlier.

Among countries that have introduced e-voting in part or in total are the US, Australia, India, Belgium, Estonia, Mexico, Peru and the Philippines.