Registrar will need more budget for international software audit requested by the CNE

Both the National Electoral Council (CNE) and the national government agreed to an audit of the Registrar's computer systems to solve the problems that led to a dispute of hundreds of thousands of votes following the legislative elections. The entity assured that, in order to contract it, it will need an addition to its budget.

Luis Guillermo Pérez, judge of the CNE, announced the Registrar's response to the request to hire an international oversight of the processes and systems that had problems in the past elections.

In the document, Sabrina Cajiao, administrative and financial manager of the Registry Office, indicated that “in order to obtain the resources so that the National Electoral Council can have an international audit, which covers the computer systems, security and processes described in the document, it is necessary to manage before the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, an addition to the CNE expenditure budget”.

In this regard, a study of necessity and convenience should be drawn up that establishes the information required to request the resources from the Ministry of Finance, which according to Cajiao must in turn contain a legal, technical and economic basis, “in duly signed PDF, Word, and the Excel containing the numerical data which show where the costs of that need come from.”

This document should be prepared by the CNE and sent to the Registrar for processing the Government's economic portfolio and budgetary feasibility for the payment of the international audit.

In the application, the president of the CNE, César Augusto Abreo, had told registrar Alexander Vega that, if he did not have the resources, he would proceed to the corresponding procedure to request them. After obtaining them, the open bidding process for the audit must be carried out.

This process of reviewing information systems should begin with Infovoters and go through the computer systems, security and technological components of auxiliary, municipal, district, departmental and general scrutiny; national-level scrutiny; and citizen registration.

“For all cases, a thorough review is intended based on three main aspects, namely Computer Systems (including source code review under national scrutiny), Information Security and Processes. This review will assess the degree of efficiency, effectiveness, controls, risk management, critical and systematic examination of all software within scope, through the execution of tests, evaluations, fieldwork of specialized auditors and delivery of reports,” said the CNE in its request.

This weekend, President Iván Duque also instructed the Minister of the Interior, Daniel Palacios, to carry out external oversight of the Registrar's software used for the election of voting juries.

The head of state, as quoted by the RCN Radio station, seeks to clarify the rulings that prevented the initial count of around 600,000 votes, “what happened to the way in which the pre-count was transmitted, with the E14 forms and other than that that an in-depth study from the technological point of view of the Software is also carried out today it is using the National Electoral Council for the purposes of the scrutiny of its competence.”

This entire process of budget addition and bidding and subsequent auditing should be carried out before the first presidential round on May 29, in order to avoid that election being called into question again among the political forces that will be debated at the polls.

Moreover, after the report by Colombia Transparente, which identified the possible double vote of up to 300,000 electoral juries, who would have voted at the table where they were conducting the oversight, as in which they were initially registered.

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