The Elections Using FOSS to Serve the Masses Presented by: Mona H. Ali mhatem@ad.gov.eg Ministry of State for Administrative Development June 26, 2014
Agenda The Challenge ICT in Elections Voter Education Out-of-Country Voting Inquiry Service Results Progress of Elections Services Growing Architecture Outcomes and Benefits
Egypt Facts & Figures Population 85+ M 50% below 25 Young large nation Voters 54 M Landline penetration 8% Mobile penetration 119% Households with PC s 52% Internet penetration 46% Source: EgyptICTIndicators.gov.eg, January 2014
Challenges First elections after the #Jan25 revolution High expectations / High scrutiny History of bad experience Lack of citizen awareness New registration method for Over 50 million First time to hold out-of-country voting Very limited time period
ICT in the Electoral Cycle IDEA www.idea.com
Voter Education Creating an official website
Voter Education Creating an official website Relevant information & EMB communiqués
Voter Education Creating an official website Relevant information & EMB communiqués Election Calendar
Voter Education Creating an official website Relevant information & EMB communiqués Election Calendar Constituencies
Voter Education Creating an official website Relevant information & EMB communiqués Election Calendar Constituencies Voter Support
CMS 2011 Parliamentary Election 2011: Joomla 1.7 2012 through 2014 Presidential Elections: Joomla 2.5 CMS for upcoming parliament election will be based on Joomla 3.3. Modified Joomla source code to make it more aggressive in handling thousands of visitors simultaneously
CMS 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9.4 4.3 www.elections.eg statistics 4.5 3.4 3.5 2 2.4 1.9 Visits Unique Visitors
Registration Out-of-Country Voters (Before 2014 Presidential Election)
Registration Voting Out-of-Country Voters (Before 2014 Presidential Election)
Registration Voting Out-of-Country Voters (Before 2014 Presidential Election) Implemented using Ruby on Rails
Out-of-Country Voters (Before 2014 Presidential Election) Number of registered out-of-country voters: 2012 Parliamentary Elections 355,569 2012 Presidential Election 586,805 2012 Referendum 586,491 2014 Referendum 681,346
Out-of-Country Voters 2014 Presidential Election Old OCV model problems Vulnerable registration Voters needed to know months in advance Catered for residents only Old OCV model problems Vote Anywhere (embassies & consulates) Information system checks for Voter eligibility + whether voter has voted before or not & in which location OCVoters are removed from in-country voter lists before start of in-country voting
Observers Registration Over 20,000 observers & media personnel applied online for 2014 Presidential Election Accepted Entities given unique codes for application Screening by PEC done online
Inquiry Service Valid/Invalid Voter Constituency & Candidates (for parliamentary) Polling station info
Inquiry Service Multiple Inquiry Channels SMS 5151 (15 pt) Call Centers & IVR Mobile & web apps
Inquiry Service & API Berkeley DB ver. 4.8 Ruby over Rack applications server OpenVPN for Admin & Developer secure access Nginx web server
Inquiry Statistics Parliament 2012 42.2 M inquiries 10% 8% 50% 32%
Inquiry Services Presidential 2012 47.9 M inquiries 3% 12% 22% 63%
Inquiry Services Referendum 2014 16.5 M inquiries %19 %5 %37 %39
Inquiry Services Presidential 2014 %3 26.9 M inquiries %13 %33 %53
Official Results
Official Results
Growth in ICT Application 2011 Parliament 2012 Presidential 2012 Referendum 2014 Referendum CMS CMS CMS CMS CMS 2014 Presidential Voters DB Voters DB Voters DB Voters DB Voters DB API API API API API Inquiry Gadget Inquiry Gadget Inquiry Gadget Inquiry Gadget Inquiry Gadget OCV OCV OCV OCV OCV* Helpdesk Helpdesk Helpdesk Helpdesk Observers Observers Results Tabulation
Growing Architecture 2011 Parliamentary Election Servers Count 20 2012 Presidential Election Servers Count 39 2012 Referendum Servers Count 35 2014 Referendum Servers Count 43 2014 Presidential Election Servers Count 53
Outcomes & Benefits Positive feedback from target audiences Developing new services & improving old ones almost each election Scalable & responsive setup Saving costs
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