Muscat: The Ministry of Interior has launched Intakhib (Elect) app for voters to select candidates who will represent them at municipal councils in all wilayats of Oman. The new app provides ease of access and accuracy.
Sayyid Hamoud bin Faisal al Busaidy, Minister of Interior, who presided over the app’s launch ceremony, stressed the ministry’s constant strive to introduce the latest technologies in every electoral term, to keep pace with developments in the technical world. The step is considered a step forward, said the minister, who commended the departments that joined hands in implementing the system.
Dr Ali bin Amer al Shaithani, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology for Communications and Information Technology, and Chairman of the Technical Committee for Elections of Municipal Council Members, 3rd Term, said that the new app constitutes a digital transformation in the electoral process and that it saves time and effort.
Intakhib app project manager Abdulrahman bin Ali al Hinai said that the application was designed on par with security standards, with all precautions in place to ensure secrecy. The app operates in NFC-enhanced smart phones connected to the Internet and associated with a valid identity card, indicating that the voter’s name is listed in the electoral register.
Al Hinai pointed out that steps to vote via the app begin with the voter’s downloading the application from app stores of IOS or Android smart phone. Then, the voter clicks a snap shot of his/her ID card, both from front and back, and saves it to the desired location.
He added that the application will read the data via the NFC feature, follow up other procedures until the voter accesses the list of candidates in each wilayat and selects the candidate who wishes to contest the elections.
The municipal council elections main committee held a meeting during which it reviewed its preparations for running the electoral process. The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Interior.
The Ministry of Interior and all committees tasked with the elections have completed their preparations and are ready for conducting the electoral process for those voting from abroad on December 18 and those voting from within Oman on December 25. — ONA
