Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said Wednesday that the commitment remains to allowing voters to cast their votes in the coming local elections using fingerprint scanners.
“I was informed by the justice minister over the weekend that progress has been made in the negotiations with VMRO-DPMNE, I even got a draft, which should be used in the negotiations with our key coalition partner DUI, before it is sent to the opposition parties of the Albanian bloc. These are the phases. I expect and I hope we’ll remain committed to voting with fingerprint scanners in the coming elections. There is time and money from the budget,” he told reporters.
The Interior Ministry, he said, is prepared to transfer the database to allow fingerprint voting and to fully manage the base.
According to him, it was agreed the traditional method of casting votes to be applied in distant places, which don’t have Internet access. “It is a step forward in finding solution to the issue,” Zaev said commending the opposition for accepting the solution because fingerprint scanners in elections will be introduced for the first time ever. “We have to leave an open window to solving the issue.”
Justice Minister Bojan Marichikj in early March confirmed voters will use fingerprint scanners in the local elections, noting that the procedure needed to be fully completed until changes to the Electoral Code were adopted with consensus.
