Commission: Developing voting devices and photographing voters with special cameras at polling stations
Commission: Developing voting devices and photographing voters with special cameras at polling stations
2025/01/19
The Independent High Electoral Commission obtained the Prime Minister’s approval to develop the biometric devices and system.
The Director of the Operations Department at the Commission, Walid Khaled Abbas, said that “the development will include {servers} and adding biometric photos of voters for verification as an additional criterion, as the photo was originally present on the voter’s card and in the verification device, and was not used for matching, and reliance was only on fingerprints, but the Commission decided to have a biometric photo of the voter by placing special cameras for matching and verification at the polling station.
Abbas pointed out that these procedures will increase the voting rates of voters whose fingerprints do not appear due to old age, chronic diseases or other reasons, and will be an additional criterion for fingerprints and not their cancellation, noting that the development of the system will be at a level consistent with modernity through updating software and hardware.
He added that the Commission contracted for electoral devices in 2017 and biometrics in 2014, which made it currently work on updating and developing them, pointing out that there is an examination company and committees to evaluate the work of the system, and cybersecurity committees formed from various ministries and relevant authorities, which prepare reports regarding electoral devices And biometrics.
Abbas explained that the Commission is working to develop operating systems to the latest versions and in line with what is in effect globally and cybersecurity requirements, in order to reduce breaches and achieve a transparent and sound electoral process, as well as reduce objections and appeals, and to achieve quick and satisfactory results for electoral process partners.
He continued, that the Commission’s mission is to fill the gaps to reach the highest level of integrity, as evidenced by the praise the Commission received from all international forums and organizations specialized in electoral affairs and process partners, during the 2021 parliamentary elections, the 2023 provincial councils, and the 2024 Kurdistan Regional Parliament, which were held with high quality and excellent standards.
alforatnews.iq
