CVK is ready for the European Parliament elections; great attention is paid to safety / Article

The election preparation process has entered the finish line – election commissions and polling stations have been established. The necessary election materials have already been sent to the polling stations abroad, but the ballots and other materials will be delivered to the polling stations in Latvia at the beginning of next week, said the head of the Central Election Commission, Kristīne Saulīte. There will be 895 polling stations in Latvia, and 50 outside the country. Election date – June 8, advance voting will also be possible.

Currently, the technical equipment for the elections has also been prepared and tested. It should be recalled that about a year before the elections, the government allocated the necessary additional funding for the provision of the European Parliament’s electronic online register of elections, so that the voter could vote at any polling station. Similar to the last municipal and Saeima elections. The register is maintained by the Directorate of Citizenship and Migration Affairs. On the other hand, the minimum hourly rate of wages for polling station workers was raised from 6 to 9 euros this year, and the amount for meals was also increased.

At the same time, there will be a step back in the compilation of election results, as polling stations will not have another information technology tool at their disposal – the election management system. This means that all votes will have to be counted without scanning the ballot papers. CVK is aware that thus more time will be needed to count the votes in the more actively attended polling stations. At the same time, lower turnout is usually expected in the EP elections than in the last Saeima elections – so there will be less work.

The head of the CVK stated: “Increased attention has been paid to all kinds of security and this, of course, also applies to the online voter register. It has already been checked by the relevant security authorities of Latvia, primarily “Cert.lv”. We also had the opportunity to see that the online register is working, so that citizens can vote in a polling station convenient for them. The system will recognize if the voter has already voted. We are in the trial phase, but the general rehearsal will take place in the places where the elections will be held.

As the European Parliament elections are approaching, the Office for the Prevention and Combating of Corruption (KNAB) has so far identified 38 violations of pre-election campaigning, four administrative processes have been initiated. The situation is generally not alarming, there have been no serious violations so far. As the elections are approaching, more activity is expected, commented KNAB chief Jēkabs Straume in an interview on Latvian Television.

“Perhaps we are not afraid, but we predict the possibility that in the very last days such violations may occur, that false information is presented when using artificial intelligence in election campaigns, campaigning for or against a political force. We will, of course, be ready to react. It is a new thing and we are still learning, but we have the tools and the ability to react,” noted Straume.

In the elections, nine deputies will be elected – representatives of Latvia in the next European Parliament. 271 candidates from 16 lists are running for nine seats.

CONTEXT:

European Parliament elections in the European Union member states will be held from June 6 to 9. Elections in Latvia will be held on June 8

In the next European Parliament, Latvia will have nine seats instead of the current eight. 16 parties have submitted their lists of candidates to them.