Trade union elections will be much faster and efficient with the use of new touch screen voting machines.
Fifty-three state of the art machines – a first of its kind in the country was handed to the Fijian Elections Office in Suva this morning.
This was possible through a close collaboration between the FEO and the Association of World Electoral Bodies.
Elections Supervisor, Mohammed Saneem, says the high-tech machines are a huge investment.
“Automation of trade union elections will definitely improve all the transparency and efficiency of the process. Trade unions also present us an ideal opportunity to introduce innovative enhancement at a smaller scale to test its feasibility.”
The machines will enhance security during the elections by eliminating any chances of fake ballot papers being used as it only recognizes papers that have unique bar codes.
Human error will also be minimized in the counting process as the machines will tabulate and print results instantly.
A terms of reference was signed in March this year for a project to support building electoral transparency through automation of voting and counting in industrial elections.
