- ECP delegation was headed by CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja.
- Brazil, India use EVMs nationwide for electoral process.
- Several meetings held with TSE’s various heads of wings.
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is mulling to use the Brazilian electronic voting machines (EVMs) as a pilot project in the country.
The development came following a visit of a high-level delegation of the ECP to the South American country to examine and conduct a feasibility study of electoral processes using EVMs.
According to a statement issued by the commission, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja headed the delegation also comprising provincial Election Commissioner (Punjab) Aijaz Anwar Chohan, Director General (IT) Muhammad Khizer Aziz and Director Nadeem Zubair.
“The Election Commission will study further about the electoral system of Brazil in the context of EVM for use as a pilot project in Pakistan and to carry out this important task, the Information Technology Wing and Project Management Unit of ECP will jointly work on it as a way forward,” it said.
The commission said that many countries are using EVMS partially in the electoral process whereas Brazil and India are using EVMs nationwide.
The ECP stated that the electoral process in Brazil is one of the best and technologically most advanced in the world. Therefore, the commission decided to visit Brazil and hold meetings with top officials of the Tribunal Superior Electoral (TSE) — the country’s top electoral body.
During the three-day visit of CEC, the statement added, a number of meetings were held with various heads of wings of Brazil’s election management body.
The meetings were held with the secretaries of communication and information technology and the head of Identification Management, who gave detailed briefings on their electoral processes and Brazilian EVM.
A demonstration of the EVM was also conducted and major topics came under discussion including “Initiatives for strengthening the social confidence in the electoral processes”, “Introduction to the Brazilian EVM”, “Identification System being used in polling process”, and “Special Advisory for fighting Disinformation”.
An important meeting was also held between CEC Raja and Chief Justice of Superior Court of Brazil and TSE President Alexandre de Moraes on various vital topics including the use of EVM.
