The conference was promoted as an open discussion on the first steps toward how ICT can be a stepping-stone for democracy and freedom in future Egyptian elections.
Wednesday’s session looked at how e-platforms can help improve democratic institutions in Egypt to create a more open voting and educational platform for the country’s citizens.
The speakers looked at how technology can play a vital part in achieving democracy.
“E-voting is not a dream,” said Gamal Gheitas, Editor-in-chief of Loghat al-Asr Magazine and IT Editor at al-Ahram. “We need to build the right foundation first by centralizing voters’ information in order to ensure that the elections are conducted fairly and without manipulation.”
He added that synchronizing information from all groups and ministries is an important step in creating a database of voters, which would then be linked to a National ID database for potential voters.
Intel Egypt’s Business Development Manager Hisham Arafa added to this by saying ICT can be instrumental in facilitating parliamentary and presidential elections and that it “can help in the development of e-government and e-democracy.”
“Elections are a crucial instrument in achieving democracy,” said Sherif Hashem, Executive Vice-President of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA). “E-voting is a vital step in achieving e-democracy. Our rolet is to try and assist in building the right infrastructure to accommodate the new technology in the years to come.”
Analysts and observers have been pushing these new technologies in order to continue the Internet surge that has hit Egypt in recent months following the protests that ousted the former government. Many argue that the Internet is the future of any democratic development in the country.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Desmond Shephard
Quelle/Source: Bikya Masr, 03.07.2011
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