Electronic voting machines at heart of Congo election crisis raise alarm in Argentina
Argentine politics have been rattled since revelations yesterday that the electronic voting machines behind the ongoing post-electoral crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were the same ordered in 2016 by Argentine President Mauricio Macri in a failed attempt to impose their use nationwide.
The D.R. Congo, a central African nation of 85 million, was plunged into its most serious political crisis in two decades when on January 11 the main opposition candidate, Martin Fayulu, denounced large-scale tabulation fraud in presidential elections held on December 30.
Initial results gave Félix Tshisekedi, an ally of outgoing President Joseph Kabila, a 3.8% margin of victory over Fayulu (38.6% to 34.8%).
Data leaked from the Congo's own National Electoral Commission, however, showed Fayulu winning 59% of the vote - a figure roughly consistent with the Congolese Catholic Church's estimate of 62.8%.
Argentine connection
The electronic voting machines used in these elections were made by the South Korean firm Miru Systems Co. - the same firm contracted by Macri's then-Modernization Minister, Andrés Ibarra, in July 2016 to provide up to 130,000 such units.
Ibarra was forced to cancel their purchase after testimony demonstrating gaping security flaws persuaded Argentina's Congress to nix the electronic vote bill in November 2016.
The units used in the recent Congolese election were not only identical to those Ibarra had purchased; but their demo material, U.S.-based election integrity watchdog The Sentry reported, was in Spanish and featured the names of Argentine candidates.
The data alteration, cybersecurity specialists note, would have occurred in the data transmission phase from the electronic terminals to the tabulation center in the capital, Kinshasa.
This is the very phase which Macri is now seeking to automate through the use of SmartMatic software - whose use in Venezuela from 2004 to 2017 has been linked to reports of tabulation irregularities.
"That the machines used in the Congo were designed for Argentina is beyond doubt," Beatriz Busaniche, head of the local political rights NGO Fundación Vía Libre noted. "In the Congolese elections everything we said would happen, happened."
It's who counts the votes
Macri, whose reelection chances have faded amid the deepest economic crisis since 2002, is nevertheless pressing on with plans to impose electronic voting and tabulations in as many provinces as possible - particularly those governed by allies who could circumvent federal law barring their use.
The nation's largest district, Buenos Aires Province (home to 3/8 of Argentina's 44 million people), is already seeking its implementation. The neighboring city of Buenos Aires, a Macri stronghold, has used electronic voting since the 2015 mayoral election - which Macri's candidate narrowly won.
The servers controlling the Buenos Aires mayoral vote were reportedly hacked from New Jersey and Texas.
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Argentine President Mauricio Macri, his former Modernization Minister, Andrés Ibarra, and the contested winner of the recent Congolese election, Félix Tshisekedi.
Tshisekedi's 3.8% margin of victory contrasts sharply with a 40%+ loss shown by leaked Congolese electoral commission data.
The electronic ballots, voting machines, and tabulation units behind the discrepancy had been originally ordered by Macri and designed for use in Argentina.
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