The Election Commission (EC) is conducting a thorough study on the use of fingerprint biometric system which may be applied in the 13th general election, said state EC director Datu Takun Sunggah.
The use of the system is to avoid multiple voting and provide greater transparency in the electoral roll.
The system, linked to the National Registration Department (NRD), allows election workers to positively identify the voters before giving them the ballot papers.
It is similar to the technology used by the Immigration Department which stores details of visitors coming into the country and helps the government curb cross-border crimes and influx of illegal immigrants.
“There is a high possibility that we will be able to use the biometric system in the coming 13th general election as we are currently doing a thorough study on it,” Takun told The Borneo Post at his office here yesterday.
On another issue, he said any decision to use the biometric system did mean that the current election process was not fair.
He added that during any election, opposition agents were allowed to be present right from nomination day to campaigning period, polling day and the counting of votes.
Takun stressed that there were many cases when the opposition insisted that the ballot boxes should be padlocked but only to discover that they lost after the counting.
“And there were instances where they won when the ballot boxes were not locked at all. So, how could the EC be accused of being unfair?”
During the 12th general election in 2008, five states fell to the opposition, which proved that the election process is transparent.
“They (opposition) must have an ulterior motive of accusing us of being unfair. The fact is that even the international community recognises our transparency in conducting our elections.”
Takun also revealed that the EC would process the registration of new voters quarterly.
On postal votes, he said agents from the opposition were also allowed to be present at polling centres meant for army and police personnel.
Meanwhile, Takun said the EC would need the assistance of the NRD and the next-of-kin of individuals who had died to clean the electoral roll.
“We can’t simply delete voters’ names from the electoral roll without the assistance of the NRD and the next-of-kin,” he added.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Peter Sibon & Wilfred Pilo
Quelle/Source: The Borneo Post, 13.08.2011
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