Dubai School of Government presents case study on UAE's e-voting process at Vienna UN Forum

The Forum, currently being held at UN headquarters in Vienna, Austria, runs until 29 June.

Nabil Alyousef, Executive President of DSG, headed the workshop on Thursday, which was attended by a number of senior officials including Guido Bertucci, Director of the Division for Public Economics and Public Administration, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations and Dr. Chung Nam, Director of Government Innovation, Ministry of Government Administration and Home affairs, Republic of Korea.

Dr. Yasar Jarrar, Executive Dean of DSG, presented the case study which assesses the role of knowledge management in the e-voting process in the UAE's first election for the UAE's Federal National Council (FNC).

In his presentation at the UN forum, Dr. Jarrar said: 'Knowledge management can play an important role in widening social acceptance of e-government processes such as e-voting through increased transparency and enhancing trust in government.'

The paper pointed out that a certain amount of trust in the government is a prerequisite for social acceptance of e-voting, regardless of the country's e-readiness level.

'The overall trust in the political system would clearly require a more comprehensive government overhaul of the economic, social and democratic approaches. Achieving a certain level of trust in the government is one prerequisite for introducing e-voting system, coupled with a certain level of social acceptance of ICT,' said Dr. Jarrar.

The move towards e-voting in the UAE was marked by the federal government's establishment of the National Election Committee (NEC) in August 2006 to supervise the poll process. One of the early decisions reached by the NEC was to use electronic measures for authentication as well as for the casting and counting of votes.

The committee viewed the e-voting system as 'modern' and as 'a symbol of the UAE's progress as an IT savvy country'. In addition to this positioning factor, the NEC opted for e-voting because it is 'easy to use,' 'most secure system for voting,' 'more transparent than the manual methods' and can 'deliver results in a very short period.'

The overall turnout in the UAE's first political participation process, and the first e-voting in an Arab country, amounted to 74.4 per cent of the Electoral College, suggesting relatively high social acceptance. The case study highlighted results of a survey conducted by Dubai Consultancy Research and Media Centre (DCRMC). Commissioned by the National Elections Committee, DCRMC's survey showed that the e-voting system had received 93.5 per cent satisfaction rate.

Alyousef pointed out the importance of knowledge management and said this is not restricted to information access alone, but involves maximising its use for the benefit of the public.

Considering the changing role of governments around the world in the light of evolving international circumstances, AlYousef's point presents a major challenge in terms of gaining access to premium knowledge management. However, the critical areas are expected to be in coordinating and accessing information quickly, accurately, and comprehensively.

During the workshop, Bertucci stressed the importance of information to improve government services and said the key lies in adapting it to the needs of the 21st century.

Dubai School of Government (DSG) is a member of the UN 7th Global Forum's Institutional Partners group. It is leading a large Arab delegation at the forum with more than 100 senior government officials from across the Arab world.

Since its establishment in 2004, Dubai School of Government has been focusing on promoting good governance by enhancing the region's capacity for effective public policy. DSG has also worked with other governments in the Arab world to achieve this goal.