CNE will audit the software of the National Registry after failures presented in the elections

On Wednesday, the National Electoral Council of Colombia (CNE) asked Registrar Alexander Vega to review the processes and systems that, in the midst of the questioned legislative elections of March 13, presented technical failures.

Less than two months after the first presidential round, the electoral authority made this request to the National Civil Status Registry for an international audit to carry out a verification of the software that had problems during the past elections, as well as the systems relating to counting “from the auxiliary to the national level”.

“This process of international auditing must be carried out by the National Electoral Council due to the aforementioned duty of inspection and surveillance, also preventing the Registry from having a dual role, as an entity responsible for the implementation of the systems and, at the same time, responsible for supervising itself, with regard to to the computer systems and operating procedures associated with them,” said the CNE.

In this regard, he indicated that the computer and security systems and the auxiliary, district, departmental and national counting processes will be evaluated, as well as citizen and infovoter registration systems, platforms that presented problems during election day, which remained unserviced for several hours, allegedly because of the high flow of users that was predictable.

This process, which will be carried out through the execution of tests and fieldwork by the auditors, and which will have a final report, will review the degree of efficiency, effectiveness, controls, risk management, critical and systematic review all software within scope, a request that had been expressed by several of the political parties, prior to the holding of the elections that were strongly questioned.

“In order to ensure transparency and ensure credibility in the electoral organization, processes must be strictly monitored and the degree of compliance with the controls and procedures established for each activity must be assessed. A thorough review of use cases and process flows must be carried out for each software, in order to validate whether they are correctly applied during the execution of the systems, as well as ensuring the continuity of services, without interruption,” said the CNE.

Finally, he asked Registrar Alexander Vega, who has been questioned by the multiple irregularities that arose in the congressional elections, that if he does not have the resources available, he must manage them through the Ministry of Finance in order to contract this audit that guarantees the legitimacy of the process.

For his part, the president of Colombia, Iván Duque, who even suggested a recount of votes in the midst of the polemic that aroused the elections, said in an interview with the national media El Tiempo that it was essential “that a thorough audit of everything that is the counting software is so that there is no doubt about with regard to the technological suitability applied by the CNE”.

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