S.Korea's online voting service company exports its techs to Kyrgyzstan

South Korea's online voting service company Kevoting announced on Wednesday that its mobile voting platform service was adopted for the local council member election in Kyrgyzstan on April 9.

"We received a letter of appreciation from the Kyrgyz government for successfully completing the election with a high turnout ratio of 82.52% and stable service in the pilot election in the Batken region," a Kevoting official said.

Due to regional conflicts, it was difficult to proceed with the election in a conventional way in Batken, and online voting was considered an option according to the review of Kyrgyzstan's Central Election Commission.

The election was conducted through Kevoting service, in which voters input their personal information online and confirm their identity through FaceID authentication before casting their votes.

Nurzhan Shaildabekova, the chairperson of the Central Election Commission of Kyrgyzstan, praised Kevoting for introducing self-verification technology and making the system transparent, and said that the company achieved an unprecedented turnout ratio of 82.52% despite the short preparation period.

The Kyrgyz government evaluated that it has established a foundation that can lead the most advanced and transparent election system among Central Asian countries and expressed its willingness to actively introduce mobile voting in the upcoming elections, including the one scheduled for October this year.

"We have successfully completed the Kyrgyzstan election by utilizing our know-how and core technology in operating online voting for many years, and this has attracted much attention from neighboring countries," Park Jae-young, Kevoting's CEO said. "Based on this, we will expand our business not only domestically but also globally and contribute to the development of electronic voting," he added.

Kevoting, a affiliate of Dasan Group, provides online voting for domestic political elections, association chairperson elections, labor union leader elections, public corporation labor director elections and joint housing representative and residents association head elections. The company provides services to 24,755 organizations in Korea.

Write to Hyung-Chang Choi at calling@hankyung.com