Peru’s Congress has approved a bill to implement electronic voting in the country, daily La Republica reported.
The vote of 63-0 in favor, with 21 abstentions, authorizes Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) to gradually implement the system, according to the report.
The former head of ONPE, Fernando Tuesta, said electronic voting will save time and reduce the number of people required during an election.
Lawmakers from President Alan Garcia’s ruling Aprista party voiced concern about electronic voting during a debate in Congress on Thursday. Congressman Mauricio Mulder said the system is not necessarily secure and does not guarantee anonymity.
However opposition lawmaker Carlos Torres Caro accused APRA of opposing the system because it would not allow them “to manipulate votes,” according to daily El Comercio.
The debate over electronic voting followed Peru’s municipal and regional elections held on October 3.
The race for Lima’s mayor between Susana Villarán of the Fuerza Social party and her conservative opponent Lourdes Flores has still not been determined due to irregularities in an unusually high number of ballot tally sheets. Half of the 8,384 cases were officially attributed to tally sheets lacking the mandatory signatures and fingerprints of citizen poll workers.
More than 10 days after the election and with 75.3% of the votes counted, Villarán has slightly increased her razor-thin lead over Flores. According to daily Gestion, Villaran has 38.6% support compared 37.5% for Flores.
