Residents of Moscow, Russia will vote for/or against the upcoming amendments to the country’s constitution using a blockchain-powered system.
According to an announcement by Moscow Authorities, the use of a blockchain-based e-voting system will ensure security and transparency in the voting process, through its network decentralization feature.
“The safety and transparency of electronic voting will be ensured by blockchain technology. Such a network does not have a single server: in order to change the information regarding bulletins, it is necessary to obtain the approval of most network participants, so the chain is almost impossible to hack” the announcement stated.
The government says the process will ensure every vote is anonymized and encrypted.
“There will be two encryption keys—one held by each voter while the second will be divided into several parts and stored by different network participants.”
Authorities say the online/electronic voting portal will be open from June 25-30, with users required to use their public service accounts to cast their e-ballots.
“An electronic ballot is no different from its paper counterpart. If the voting participant approves the amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, they need to put a tick in front of the column titled ‘Yes.’ If they are against the amendments, they need to select the option titled ‘No.’”
Asides Moscow, blockchain voting will also hold in the Nizhny Novgorod region as per announcement by Russia’s Central Election Commission.
The upcoming Russia constitutional amendment elections will offer citizens an opportunity to vote for a further stay in power until 2036 for President Vladimir Putin.
While this has been a subject of controversy, many are certain the Russian president will retain power following is hard-style leadership, which sees him fighting to serve two more six (6) year terms.
If the Russian people vote against the amendments, Putin will finally have to leave office at the expiration of his current term in 2024.
Asides his presidential stay proposal, matters to be amended will all be voted in unison: meaning that there would be no option to vote on each proposal individually; you can only vote for or against all of them in bulk.
The above approach has seen critics term the election a “Trojan horse” with the Putin-led government hiding unlawful proposals among the lawful ones.
Is blockchain-based voting a solution for free, fair and efficient elections? Share your thoughts in the comments.
