OSCE expert meeting focused international community on collective solutions to e-voting development problems - M. Sarsembayev

The meeting entitled "Present State and Prospects of Application of Electronic Voting in the OSCE participating States" which was held at the OSCE Headquarters in Vienna on September 16-17, 2010 was dedicated to expert discussion of international approaches for this problem solution. One of the key speakers of the event, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on election related issues, member of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan Marat Sarsembayev told about the seminar results, relevance of the topic for discussion suggested by the Kazakh side and prospects of e-voting.

According to international experts, holding the seminar on the issues regarding electronic voting is one of the most topical and important initiatives of the Kazakh presidency within the framework of the humanitarian dimension of the OSCE. What factors, in your opinion, cause relevance of this theme and obvious interest of the international community in its discussion?

First of all it should be noted that this problem was for the first time discussed at such a high international level. Its relevance is provided by the difference of opinions in the OSCE member states on the issues of technical modernization of the electoral process. For example, some states have long been using and actively developing the electronic voting systems. A majority of states including Kazakhstan and Russia are ready to improve these systems and introduce them throughout the country, while some countries are still studying the issue. And there is a group of states, which prefer the traditional form of voting - a paper ballot and a pencil. Nevertheless all the participants, without exception, unanimously recognize the necessity and importance of collective discussion of this issue, being aware of the inevitability of the future scientific-technological progress even in this traditionally conservative field - election process. In this context, the majority of the OSCE member states consider it appropriate to start intense work in this direction, including more rapid studying of the international best practices and preparation of a legal framework for using of e-voting systems.

What are the main results of the meeting?

In my opinion, the main result of the two-day meeting and absolute achievement of the Kazakhstan's chairmanship is that the organizers managed not only to focus the international community on brainstorm and search for optimal solutions to the problems of electronic voting in the OSCE region, but also to identify promising channel to further improve the Organization's activities in the framework of its humanitarian basket, where dominant place belongs to the observance of human rights, including the election process participants. This is, in some degree, evidenced by the establishment of a new post of OSCE / ODIHR Advisor on New Voting Technologies by the key humanitarian structure of the OSCE - Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. In this regard, it should be noted the effective interaction between the Kazakhstan Central Election Commission and OSCE, with which especially for the participants we have prepared a review of international documents on electronic voting.

What do you think about the prospects of further development of e-voting system in Kazakhstan?

Modernization, technological advancement and promotion of scientific and technological progress, introduction of international best practices in modern conditions are the main factors of sustainable development and competitiveness of the state. The election process is no exception and requires improvement, taking into account the dynamics of scientific and technological progress. The leadership of our country is keenly aware of the need and importance of moving forward on all fronts of development of the society and state. This is demonstrated by the Kazakhstan's course on implementation of electronic voting in the country.

In conclusion, it is important to note that all participants of the expert seminar "Present State and Prospects of Application of Electronic Voting in the OSCE participating States" highly appraised the level of organization and holding of the meeting by the Kazakhstan's chairmanship and the work of the Kazakh delegation. Positive response in the audience was aroused by the speech delivered by Marat Sarsembayev on behalf of head of the delegation of our country, Central Election Commission Chairman Kuandyk Turgankulov, the proposals to improve the international legal framework, legal aspects of using e-voting systems contained in the reports of known Kazakhstani experts Kazbek Zhirenchin and Marat Bashimov and, of course, the automated election system Sailau, functionality of which the event participants were able to test during the meeting.