At the news briefing held today, Giorgi Sioridze, Deputy Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC), discussed a pilot project to be implemented in N4 Krtsanisi electoral district during the 2 October elections, within which the vote-counting process will be carried out using electronic technologies.

As Sioridze said, “because of high public interest in 2 October elections and its particular political context, the priority task for the opposition and myself, as a member of the parliamentary group working on electoral reform was in addition to the implementation of the provisions of 19 April, adopting such technological innovations during these elections which would have ensured a nationwide impact on the voting process and not to test the efficacy of this or that innovation in specific cases. Unfortunately, our wish could not be fully implemented which was due to financial, logistical, insufficient time, and other reasons”.

Nevertheless, the election administration (EA) together with the electoral stakeholders gave us a platform and we introduced different types of technology. At this stage, video recording will be introduced throughout the country which is a step forth.

It can be proudly said that N4 Krtsanisi electoral district will be at the center of attention during the 2 October elections, as ballots will be counted by electronic vote-counting devices there.

As a result of the renewal of the composition of the EA and the arrival of new leadership, intensive negotiations were held with the company "Smartmatic - the leading company in the electronic technology sphere possessing experience in adopting various technologies from the U.S to the Philippines. Hence, it became possible to conduct the elections in a modified way, not in one or two polling stations, but the whole Krtsanisi electoral district, and count ballot papers through electronic counters”, - added Giorgi Sioridze.