IPA CIS Representatives Assessed Prospects for E-Voting

On 31 July, a roundtable “E-Voting: Practice and Prospects”, co-organized by the Russian Public Institute of Electoral Law, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Presidential Grants Foundation, took place at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. The discussion was attended by the representatives of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, the Moscow City Election Commission, the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, the CIS Executive Committee, the Civic Chamber of Moscow and specialized non-profit organizations.

Deputy Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat – Director of the IIMDD IPA CIS Ivan Mushket and Adviser to the Secretary General – Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat Sergey Karavaev represented the IPA CIS at this event.

Ivan Mushket delivered a welcoming address of Secretary General – Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat Dmitriy Kobitskiy. The address noted the special relevance of the present topic, due to the rapid development and penetration of digital technologies into all areas of life. Ivan Mushket in his report spoke about the experience of the CIS Member Nations in the use of digital technologies during the preparation and conduct of elections. The Director of the IIMDD IPA CIS also noted the disadvantage of this type of voting, expressed in the matters of quality of software and hardware that ensure the electoral process. At the same time, Ivan Mushket believes that election monitoring will not lose its importance with the introduction of digital technologies in the electoral sphere.

Adviser to the Secretary General – Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat Sergey Karavaev noted in his report that the strengthening of voters’ trust, as well as compliance with the law through ensuring the secrecy of the voting, are main tasks in the digital support of electoral processes.