Indonesia plans to adopt India'€™s online voting system for the upcoming 2019 general elections, a government official says.

Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said recently that his ministry had carried out a study on India'€™s e-voting system and found that the system worked at a low cost and with minimal errors.

'€œIndia has been effectively and successfully carrying out e-voting ['€¦] despite the fact that the number of illegible voters was almost one billion people,'€ Tjahjo said, as quoted by Antara news agency.

The next step, Tjahjo said, would be for the ministry to share its findings with the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) to create a similar formula for Indonesia.

"We will discuss what system could be better and cheaper than India's with the BPPT," he said, hoping that the system could be used in the 2019 general elections.

He said the system would collect voters'€™ information, which was available through electronic identity cards.

However, challenges remained as there were many Indonesians holding more than two e-ID cards, he remarked.

Previously, General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Husni Kamil Manik said that the commission was considering and studying the use of IT for the country'€™s general elections in the future.

'€œThe study is expected to be completed and introduced to related stakeholders in November 2015," he said.

Technology, Research and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir has welcomed the plan, saying that the adoption of an online voting system could save up to 70 percent of regular election costs as the government would not have to spend money on printing ballot papers and invitations.

"Everything would be automatic," he said. (ika)(++++)

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