The absence of solid and firm support on the part of the political parties, primarily the parliamentary ones, including the ruling party, and the Moldovans’ distrust in electoral processes are the main obstacles to the implementation of electronic voting, Nicolae Panfil, Promo-LEX program director, stated in an international conference entitled “Electronic voting and use of information technology in elections” that was held in Strasbourg, IPN reports, quoting a press release of the association.
In the conference, Nicolae Panfil said that he approves of the CEC’s openness and unprecedented public assumption of responsibility for developing, testing and implementing an electronic system, noting that such an attitude and approach to the problem has been stimulated the last few years by a number of factors, including the large number of electors who vote outside the country, the problems these face in the process of voting and the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Nicolae Panfil, the electoral authorities’ enthusiasm and openness are not sufficient. A complex interinstitutional and comprehensive effort at the level of society and communication, informing and more efficient promotion of the solution of electronic voting as an alternative based on the use of information technology are needed. The parties do not support the relevant approaches and among the reasons are the lack of knowledge of how electronic voting works and unwillingness to assume the political risks for the option of electronic voting and also the consequences of the people’s distrust if they fail to persuade the citizens of the reliability and correctness of such an alternative voting method.
As to citizens’ distrust in electoral processes, Nicolae Panfil said that among the reasons for such distrust are the excessive political polarization, lack of trust in public institutions, including in electoral bodies, and the political leaders’ incapacity to deliver the promised results. The information space also has a massive impact on the perceptions of citizens, especially if these are not well informed or are actively misinformed.
Nicolae Panfil noted that despite the perception of the broad distrust in the electoral processes and the lack of political support for the introduction of electronic voting, even if this wasn’t actively promoted and extensively communicated, this voting method seems to be supported by a large part of the citizens. A study carried out by Promo-LEX at the beginning of 2021 shows that 49% of the citizens are for the introduction of electronic voting, while 46% are against.
