The Central Elections Commission (CEC) Chairman, Dr. Hanna Nasir, announced at a press conference that the transfer of a number of citizen’s registration centers without their knowledge was not due to a hacking of the voter registry system, but rather indicates an abuse of the CEC’s e-service.
Chairman Nasir clarified at the press conference that the CEC permitted any citizen to transfer his/her registration electronically from one center to another within the same locality by providing their ID number, date of birth, and mobile number. This service effortlessly enabled thousands of citizens to update their data; however, some individuals abused the service by transferring the registration of a limited number of voters from one center to another within the same residential community. This action is considered an election crime.
The Chairman stated that the CEC discovered these attempts on the evening of February 16, and remedied the situation by immediately terminating the registration transfer service, thereby reducing the number of transfer cases. The CEC then reassigned the registrations of the transferred registrants back to their original centers and filed an immediate complaint to the Public Prosecution including all the data necessary to launch an investigation and take swift legal action against the perpetrators. Nasir stressed that the CEC will not be satisfied by solely submitting a complaint, and will closely follow this serious matter until the offenders are identified and legal recourse is taken.
Nasir emphasized that the CEC is fully responsible for the accuracy of the voter registry, and therefore informs citizens of the registry details during the exhibition and challenge period in order to mitigate any errors in the voter data, including the names of the registration centers, so that the information can be corrected before the final approval of the registry. The voter registry will be published in 1,090 centers across all districts from March 1-3.
Chairman Nasir called on all citizens to verify their registration information, the location of their registration centers, and to report any unapproved changes to their data in the voter registry. These actions can be taken at either one of the exhibition and challenge centers, on the CEC’s website, through the polling center inquiry service (*600#), or by calling the toll-free number (1800300400).
Nasir concluded by thanking the citizens who participated in the registration process, and all those who took a strong stance against the transfer of voter registration, stressing that the CEC supports their position and appreciates their eagerness to conduct fair, transparent, and democratic elections despite all obstacles.