Elections in Diia in Ukraine are constitutionally impossible, voting must be secret, - Ministry of Digital Transformation
In order to hold elections via the "Diia" digital app in Ukraine, the issue of voting secrecy must first be resolved.
This was stated by Acting Minister of Digital Transformation Oleksandr Borniakov in an interview with Forbes Ukraine on May 6, according to Censor.NET.
The secrecy of the vote
"The issue here isn't digitalization. When people say that Diia can be used in elections, that's impossible. Because, according to the Constitution, voting must be secret. The voter's choice must remain confidential. And as of today, that can only be achieved in voting booths," he explained.
The official cited examples of electronic elections in Estonia and South American countries and noted that, technically, Diia has the necessary tools for voting; however, Ukrainians must first collectively decide—through a referendum or by other means—that "we can all collectively waive the secrecy of the vote."
Data protection
Borniakov pointed out that this is precisely why there will be no draft notices for Ukrainians subject to military service in the "Diia" app.
- According to him, the Ministry of Digital Transformation’s top priority is protecting the personal data of Ukrainians. This is also a requirement of the European Union as part of the country’s EU accession process: whether Diia complies with personal data protection standards.
"But the rest, in terms of public convenience, [can be implemented]. And then there’s the security situation. It seems to me that anything we do to reduce the need to visit government offices helps during wartime, because it lowers the risk of crowds gathering," added Borniakov.
