With the current COVID-19 pandemic, e-voting would seem like the ideal way to carry out any upcoming election. That being said, it probably won’t be used if any are to be held in the immediate future.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Takiyuddin Hassan said that the Election Commission is still not satisfied with privacy and security issues surrounding e-voting. He also says that the commission has looked into the implementation of e-voting in other countries like the US, Brazil, Estonia, India and Switzerland. In those systems, the commission has deemed that their implementation still need to be improved.
That being said, Takiyuddin says that the Election Commission examining the suitability of e-voting. The commission will engage with the relevant parties before submitting any decision regarding e-voting to the government.
While e-voting is still off the table for now, the next general election isn’t something that is happening soon. But if there are any elections that were to happen in the near future, the minister says that the process will be adapted to fit COVID-19 prevention guidelines.
(Source: Parlimen Malaysia / YouTube, Astro Awani. Image: Election Commission / Facebook [1], [2] )
