الأخ وحيد

ملاحظاتك في محلها، وأنا بدوري ومعي عدد من الأصدقاء نتسائل عن أسباب غموض هذا التصريح الصحفي وعدم وضوحه، حتى أن بعض الصحف المحلية أشارت إلى استبعاد التصويت الإلكتروني، بينما كان الأمر غامضاً في الصحف الأخرى.

صدقت يا وحيد! مثال مقلوب عما تقوله هي البصامة الكبرى الـ GDN طبعاً… فمداها أن تغيّر الموضوع في المطبوع و لم يمديها تغييره إلى الآن على موقعها، و إليك الموضوع الذي كان مفروضاً أن ينزل، للحفظ طبعاً قبل ما ينتبهوا له!

E-polling ‘open to only 1pc of voters’
By TARIQ KHONJI

BAHRAIN’S e-voting scheme will be open to just one per cent of eligible voters who register and only if they are abroad, it was announced yesterday. A committee consisting of members of civil society will also be able to monitor the elections.

The decision came following a meeting yesterday among Central Informatics Organisation’s (CIO) officials and four political societies, the Bahrain Human Rights Society and the Bahrain Transparency Society, at the CIO’s premises in Isa Town.

Eight other societies boycotted the meeting, saying that e-voting could be used to manipulate the elections and because they want an independent inquiry into the allegations made in the Bandargate report.

The report, produced under the banner of the London-registered Gulf Centre for Democratic Development, alleges that a secret organisation, funded by a senior government official, has been working to influence the outcome of the parliamentary elections.

GCDD secretary-general Dr Salah Al Bandar, who is British but married to a Bahraini, was deported on September 13, allegedly after circulating the report to Bahraini authorities, foreign embassies and some political societies.

He was also a strategic planning advisor to the Cabinet Affairs Ministry, but was said to have been sacked for allegedly trying to infiltrate the government’s data system.

Following the meeting, in which some participants criticised the e-voting system, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and CIO president Shaikh Ahmed bin Ateyatalla Al Khalifa said that just under 3,000 Bahrainis living abroad would be able to use e-voting.

“Only one per cent of the 295,686 eligible voters will be able to use e-voting and only if they are abroad.”

Shaikh Ahmed said that the earliest who register will be accepted. The door would still be open for Bahrainis abroad to vote through embassies.

“E-voting is a way for Bahrainis in other countries, who are not near embassies, to have their voices heard. We shouldn’t shut the door on it completely and one per cent will hardly influence the outcome,” he said.

But some participants in the meeting did not agree.

Costs

Bahrain Transparency Society president Dr Jassim Al Ajmi said that the costs of using e-voting outweighed the benefits.

“A lot of people do not have faith in the system and it may discredit the outcome of the elections,” he said.

The elections will also be monitored by a committee of civil societies, including the Bahrain Transparency Society and others, said Shaikh Ahmed. Dr Al Ajmi said that he was pleased that there would be monitoring but said that he is still waiting to hear about the details, including which societies would be included in this committee.

Shaikh Ahmed said that this committee, along with the judges counting the votes, would also be able to jointly appoint a company to independently monitor the results of the e-voting.

Dr Al Ajmi also believes that e-voting allows voters less privacy because their choices may be monitored, something that the CIO denied.

Bahrain Human Rights Society assistant secretary-general Dr Abdulla Al Derazi said that zero per cent of the e-votes should be counted.

“Just because you have bought the machines, doesn’t mean you have to use them,” he continued.

MP Dr Salah Ali, who is Al Menbar National Islamic Society vice-president, said that he agreed that the door should not be closed on e-voting. “We need to find a middle ground that will also satisfy those who have reservations, so I think that counting a small percentage of the votes will not hurt,” he said.

The other societies which attended were Al Asala Islamic Society, Al Meethaq Society and the Constitutional Gathering Society.

Boycott

The societies which boycotted the meeting were the Al Wefaq National Islamic Society, National Democratic Action Society (NDAS), the Islamic Action Society, the National Grouping Society, the Progressive Tribune Society, the National Brotherhood Society, the National Free Thought Society and the Patriotic Democratic Gathering Society.

“The reason for our boycott is because we object to e-voting and we also think that Shaikh Ahmed is not fit to be in his position until an independent investigation is carried out regarding the Al Bandar allegations,” said NDAS secretary general Ibrahim Sharif.

Bahrain Information Technology Society chairman Adnan Al Mahmood said that he was glad that e-voting wasn’t being rejected completely.

“We believe that using it will allow us to find glitches in the system, which we will be able to correct and also build confidence in the technology,” he added.

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