The Central Election Commission has stopped making new functional changes to the electronic electoral systems. Now the main task is to ensure their stable operation during the elections for the 15th Saeima, which will take place in October.
The Chairman of the Central Election Commission, Maris Zviedris, announced that as of June 30, the development of the functionality of the electoral systems has effectively been completed. No new capabilities are planned to be added before the elections.
According to him, many ideas for further development remain valid, but their implementation will be postponed to the next electoral cycle.
Zviedris acknowledged that some elements of the system are not yet functioning as the developers and the CEC would like. Nevertheless, the created modules are already ready for use, and it is with them that the commission will work during the upcoming elections.
This approach differs from last year's situation, when testing and refinement of certain solutions continued almost until the day of voting. This time, the CEC decided to refrain from constant changes right before the elections and focus on the stability of the already prepared system.
One of the key stages of preparation was bringing the electronic voter register into working order. As Zviedris previously reported, this task has already been completed, and the implementation of other technical solutions is ongoing as scheduled.
The next stage of preparation will involve practical workshops for municipal electoral commissions. Starting in mid-July, CEC specialists, along with developers of new systems, will begin on-site meetings, during which participants will be shown how to work with the updated solutions. Such workshops are planned to be held in all municipalities of the country by the end of August.
The development of new electoral systems has been handed over to state and partially state-owned enterprises — Latvijas mobilais telefons, Tet, and Latvijas valsts meži. Previously, the government terminated the contract with the former platform developer RIX Technologies, citing the need to ensure state security.
Elections for the 15th Saeima of Latvia will take place in early October. Until that time, the main focus will be on checking the operation of the already created systems and preparing the staff of the electoral commissions.
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