CARACAS, Venezuela, Wednesday, September 29th 2010 [ME NewsWire]:
(BUSINESS WIRE)-- "To be able to publish official results with more than 98% of votes counted in the greatly contested Parliamentary Elections just a few hours after closing the polls, and to get all political parties to readily accept the results, despite the pervading polarization, was possible only thanks to an accurate and reliable electoral automated solution such as ours," said Antonio Mugica, Smartmatic's Chief Executive Officer.
On September 26, after the polls closed, the Venezuelan Electoral Council (CNE), the various political parties, international companions and national observers as well as representatives from the civil society successfully performed a closing random audit comprising 54% of the voting machines (from a nation-wide total of 36,563). And within hours, despite the polarization pervading the country, all the contenders openly endorsed the official and binding results.
Regardless the fact that the Venezuelan event included 87 parliamentary simultaneous elections, some of them with tight results of only few hundred votes differences, the official results were announced and ready for adjudication in eight hours. And the main political forces immediately accepted them. This was only possible with an automated and accurate system. For instance, during the last parliamentary election in Latin America, which was carried out manually, it took the Electoral Authorities 127 days to announce official results and proclaim the winning candidates.
Key electoral statistics
For the first time in Venezuelan history, parliamentary elections were carried out with 100% of the poll centers automated with Smartmatic’s technology. Despite the complexity of the event (6,410 candidates running for 165 seats in the National Assembly and 12 deputies for the Latin American Parliament), the entire process ran smoothly, with no major faults. Some key electoral statistics include:
• Automated poll centers: 12,562 (100%)
• Smartmatic voting machines deployed: 36, 563 (models: SAES-3000, SAES-3300 and SAES-4000)
• Registered voters: 17,715,758
• Voter turnout: 66,45% (11.8 million Venezuelans)
• Votes cast by each voter: average of 4 per person
• Total votes tallied: 54,063,967
• Polling stations ending with manual vote due to machine malfunction: 0,02% (8)
International approval
The technical prowess, managerial skills, zeal and willingness of Smartmatic's team, together with the quality and security features of the technological solution proved once more to be an unbeatable combination toward a successful election.
Some of the international observers that endorsed the automated system have stated:
“I am impressed by the process automation. The system is simple and believable." —Hama Arba Diallo, Vice President of the Assembly of Burkina Faso.
"Venezuela and Brazil are at the best point of technology deployment in the electoral process. Latin American countries should follow those routes to guarantee their citizens right to vote." —John Guilliani, Central Electoral Board of Dominican Republic.
“We have seen the production process of the machines, we have done many questions, and I am impressed by the optimization and transparency of the process." —Wilhelm Schmidt, Nicaragua's Supreme Electoral Council.
"The voting system is extremely automated, verification and aggregation levels optimal and transparent." —Esteban Silva, president of the Chilean Socialist Party.
About Smartmatic
Smartmatic is a multinational company that designs and deploys technological solutions aimed at helping governments fulfill, in the most efficient way, their commitments with their citizens. It is one of the largest cutting-edge technology suppliers and a wide and proven experience in the United States, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Smartmatic guarantees more efficient and transparent processes, in three areas: Elections, Identity Management and Mission Critical Government Solutions, and it has over 300 highly specialized employees in offices in the U.S., Panama, Barbados, Brazil, Venezuela, United Kingdom, Philippines and Taiwan.
Twitter: @Smartmatic
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