Electoral technologies. Prof. David Duenas-Cid on OSCE mission to Kazakhstan | Gdańsk University of Technology

During the mission, he participated in the International Conference on Constitutional Reform and Electoral System, organized on the 30th anniversary of the Kazakhstan's Central Electoral Committee. The conference was attended by the heads of the Central Election Commissions, representatives of international organizations, and participants from 11 countries in the region - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Jordan, Moldova, Mongolia, Turkey, Estonia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

At the conference, Prof. Duenas-Cid presented an overview of the use of electoral technology, highlighting the benefits and risks of its adoption. He also introduced the elements that bring trust or distrust to internet voting:

• Trust is built slowly, closely related to the perceived trust in government, the positive experience in using similar technologies, etc.
• In contrast, distrust is created and disseminated quickly, following the contents and experience that undermine the trustworthiness of technology.

Both elements are studied by the “Dynamics of Trust and Distrust Creation in Internet Voting” (ELECTRUST) project, funded by the European Union’s HORIZON 2020 program and led by prof. Duenas-Cid. He also discussed technical aspects, such as the need to open the source code of election software to allow external auditing and to ensure voting and data secrecy during and after elections. 

Prof. Duenas-Cid also visited the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry, where he met Mr Turyssov to discuss the developments in digital government and digital public services in Kazakhstan. During the mission he also discussed the internet voting practice by the Central Election Committee and discussed the use of electoral technologies with representatives from other countries.