2023/03/15 11:54:13

E-Government of Estonia

Content

2023: More than half of online votes cast in parliamentary elections
2019: Almost 50% of votes cast online in Estonian elections
2014: Russia catches up with Estonia
2013
See also

2023: More than half of online votes cast in parliamentary elections

In the parliamentary elections in Estonia, held in early March 2023, for the first time in the world, more than half of voters cast their votes via the Internet. The victory was won by the Reform Party under the leadership of Prime Minister Kai Callas.

Online voting has been available in Estonia since 2005. Since then, five local authorities elections, five parliamentary elections and three election campaigns for the European Parliament have taken place. The technology is based on the use of an Estonian identification card, which is the primary identity card in the country. The card stores various information about its owner: full name, gender, national identification number, cryptographic keys and certificates.

More than half of Estonian voters cast their votes via the Internet

As noted, the absolute majority of ordinary voters in Estonia have special readers for reading identification cards. This allows remote voting via the Internet. It is reported that during the parliamentary elections of 2023, approximately 51% of voters who voted carried out the process online. Prior to that, no country in the world has shown such a high result.

It is said that electronic voting in Estonia provides a high level of transparency and integrity. Experts and enthusiasts can follow the process in real time, and the voting application's source code is in the public domain. Several independent in-depth checks of the system functioning were carried out. Moreover, within 30 minutes of voting, every Internet voter can check whether their vote got into the "electronic ballot box" correctly. Before fixing the final choice, users can change their online choice countless times. In addition, you can come to the polling station on election day and fix your vote on paper: in this case, electronic voting will be removed.^[1]

2019: Almost 50% of votes cast online in Estonian elections

In the parliamentary elections in Estonia, which took place in early March 2019, a record was set for the frequency of use of the electronic voting system. Almost every second citizen voted online.

The Estonian elector registered 561,131 votes. Of these, 247,232 votes came from the electronic system. Most of these voters voted in Estonia (231,741), and in other countries traveling, as well as Estonians permanently residing abroad, cast 15,491 votes using the Internet.

A special resource has been created for electronic voting on the Internet - "Elections in Estonia." It provides information in three languages (Estonian, Russian, English)

Most electronic votes among foreign countries were cast in Finland (4251), Sweden (1426), Great Britain (974), Germany (822) and Spain (696). 171,043 people used an ID card for electronic voting, 3,884 people used Digi-ID, 72,305 people used mobiil-ID.

In total, 134,694 women and 112,538 men participated in electronic voting. In the previous elections, 176,491 people took part in electronic voting in the Riigikogu; at that time, a record 186,034 people participated in electronic voting in the local elections in 2017.

According to the Republican Election Commission, the turnout in the March 2019 elections was 63.1%. In the elections to the 101-seat parliament, the Reform Party won, receiving 28.9%. The share among electronic votes was 40%, and the top three included the Conservative People's Party (EKRE; 13.5%) and the Fatherland Party (Isamaa; 12,5%).

Online voting is early: it lasts from the 10th to the 4th day before the election. Electronic voting cannot be held on election day. In order to use the service, the voter needs a computer with the Internet and a national ID card or mobile ID with valid certificates and PIN codes.^[2]

2014: Russia catches up with Estonia

Every year the difference in the development of electronic public services between the leader of the post-Soviet space Estonia and the Russian Federation decreases. As of 2014, Estonia ranks 15th in the UN electronic government development ranking, Russia 27.

More than 35% of the population of the Russian Federation uses electronic public services, said Vladimir Averbakh, director of the Electronic Government Development Department of the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation. At a meeting with journalists, Vladimir Averbakh named the leading regions in the demand for electronic public services: Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Primorsky Territory, the Republic of Tatarstan, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and the Republic of Mordovia. The least used electronic public services in Dagestan are 1.8% of residents.

The structure of population requests for electronic services varies significantly between countries. For example, in Primorye, where more than 66% of residents use such services, 91% of requests submitted electronically are for issuing foreign passports, and in the near South Korea, a life expectancy calculator, an economic dictionary and a reference book about 100 mountains of the country are in the lead.

In the post-Soviet space, the undisputed leader in development, Estonia has become an electronic public service where for almost 20 years 1% of the country's budget has been allocated for the development of electronic state services, regardless of which government is in power. According to the vice-president of Rostelecom for innovative development Alexei Nashchekin, in 2012, Estonia's spending on e-government amounted to $1153.8 per capita, only Singapore is ahead ($3125), the figure for - Russia $1.2. Today in Estonia, more than 90% of the population over 15 years old uses an ID card to identify their identity, it completely replaces their passport, with its help you can make electronic payments, receive all public services and even vote in elections. In 2001, in the elections to the country's parliament, 24.3% of all voters who voted used voting through. At Internet the end of last year, even "electronic citizenship" appeared in the country, opening foreign subjects access to e-government services, "electronic citizens" can register companies in the country and open accounts in Estonian. banks

In the last 2014, the ranking of the development of electronic governments of the world, compiled under the auspices of the UN, Estonia now ranks 15th with a development index of 0.8180. The leader of the rating - South Korea - has an index of 0.9462. Russia ranks 27th with a figure of 0.7296. This should be considered a very good result, given the fact that in 2010 our electronic government was given 59th place.

Such a significant increase in the Russian index is associated with the rapid development in the country of all three components, on the basis of which the index calculates: electronic services, telecommunications infrastructure, human capital, in particular, the ability and desire of citizens to use the services of e-government.

The number of services that a citizen can receive through the Internet is growing literally every day, both at the level of federal structures and at the regional level. For the development of the economy, the most important are the set of services of the Federal Tax Service for the interaction of entrepreneurs with tax authorities. Launched in May in Dubna near Moscow, the Federal Data Processing Center (DPC) of the Federal Tax Service allows you to create a "single tax file" of the taxpayer, where all data on them will be summarized. In such a file, it is possible to automatically take into account information about the social and economic situation of the taxpayer, his registered property, paid and unpaid taxes, etc. Ahead is the transition to a completely "contactless" interaction between the taxpayer and the tax service. In Estonia, for example, it takes 18 minutes to register a company, and 3 minutes to pay taxes. More than 95% of tax returns in the country are submitted electronically.

Information interaction between citizens and the Russian state in the field of pension information is also approaching the Estonian level. Already on the PFR website, you can send an appeal to the Fund, order the necessary documents, get information about the state of the pension account, use the pension calculator to calculate your future pension and make an appointment with a specialist. In early July, a new service was launched within the framework of the FIU AIS - accepting applications for the appointment of a pension and the method of its delivery. This method of applying for a pension makes a personal visit of a citizen to the client service of the Pension Fund optional.

One of the directions for the development of e-government will be the implementation of the new concept of the Ministry of Communications "open platform of public services." The concept provides for the provision of electronic public services on the websites of government agencies and frequently visited websites of private companies using the so-called widgets, pop-up windows with a standard interface. A widget library will be developed, including, for example, enrolling children in kindergartens, making an appointment with a doctor, checking tax arrears and many other popular types of services.

E-government services are actively implemented in all countries in the territory of the former USSR. In Kazakhstan, for example, now an electronic digital signature is immediately recorded on the identity card issued to each person, which allows you to identify a person using a card reader. Consistency is a big plus of the Kazakh approach, a bill has now been submitted to the National Chamber, which will regulate the very concept of open data, fix their list and form of presentation, we are talking about hundreds of databases. The republic set an ambitious task to enter the TOP-20 of the rating of UN electronic governments. Next year, the next rating of UN electronic governments will be released. Competition in this area is very serious, for example, the United States in 2005 was in first place in the rating, and now they occupy only the seventh.

2013

According to the leading consultant to the Estonian government on information and communication technologies (May 2013, based on CNews materials), the use of free and open source software has brought great benefits to the state in implementing a program to create modern e-government services.

Estonia has been given the title of "best of the best" by the UN regarding the development and implementation of e-government systems in the last decade. The Estonian government, in turn, stated that this was greatly facilitated by the active use and creation of open source software.

All key projects developed for the Estonian public sector, including large-scale e-health systems, public order, government document management and business interaction, are open source, said Siim Sikkut, a leading IT consultant to the Estonian government.

In addition to the above products, an electronic justice system, a civil services portal, public procurement and online payments systems, as well as several cultural portals operate for Estonian citizens. "The source code for these key, centrally funded projects has been published as open source software," Sikkut reported. In addition to creating services for citizens, the government is developing means of effective interaction with large businesses - banks, telecommunications and energy companies.

According to Siim Sikkut, there are three main advantages of open source software for Estonia - economy, innovation and sustainable development. "Our software uses the best technological know-how," Sikkut explained. "And the openness of the code makes it easy to change developers if necessary."

According to Sikkut, Estonia plans to continue to adhere to such a free and open strategy.

Recall that the Estonian government by default releases all internal development software under the official open license of the European Union - EUPL (European Public License).