The disruptions observed during Monday’s early voting are also linked to insufficient training, said Kristīne Saulīte, Chairwoman of the Central Election Commission (CEC), during a meeting of the Saeima’s Public Administration and Local Government Committee.
She explained that many parties and institutions are involved in the election process, each playing a significant and responsible role. “We can’t just single out one,” said Saulīte.
The CEC Chairwoman emphasized that a large share of responsibility for the election process lies with municipal polling stations. “The more training, the better the results,” she noted, adding that initially only 22% of involved personnel had completed the necessary training.
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At the same time, she pointed out that “some things have worked very well.” Saulīte highlighted the new ballot papers, stating that there are now significantly fewer voter questions about how to fill them out correctly.
Director of the State Agency for Digital Affairs (VDAA), Jorens Liopa, said during the meeting that several institutions are involved in the development and maintenance of the election platforms. He also noted that initially, there were few users who had completed training.
Liopa explained that a key factor for the successful use of the election platform is proper training, which more polling station staff have now completed.
Regarding the 2nd of June, Liopa stated that the previous errors had been resolved and should not reoccur. “The core election process and transparency have not been compromised,” he said.
MP Ilze Stobova (Latvia First) expressed concern, saying she felt like the system was still in a “test mode” and questioned whether “the program is truly finished.”
Liopa responded that the issue was due to “user data input skills,” and that the system itself is functioning well. He also noted that continuous improvements are being made based on ongoing analysis.
MP Ingmārs Līdaka (United List) said that the early voting period itself feels like a “test mode.” “I wouldn’t call it a tragedy,” Līdaka stated, adding that it’s impossible to avoid all errors.
MP Gatis Liepiņš (New Unity) echoed this view, saying “you only learn by doing.” He emphasized that if we want to progress, mistakes are part of the process, and it’s better for such mistakes to occur during early voting, when turnout is significantly lower than on election day.
As previously reported, the Saeima committee plans to hear from election organizers and other involved parties on Wednesday to better understand the recent technical issues during early voting.
On the first day of early voting, election commissions experienced difficulties submitting voter activity data due to disruptions in the election system.
The Information Technology Security Incident Response Institution, Cert.lv, stated that the disruptions on Monday were not due to any external interference. No cybersecurity incidents were detected in the election system.
During the first two days of early voting in the Latvian municipal elections, an estimated 3.51% of eligible voters cast their ballots.