National Electoral Council rector Jorge Rodríguez annnounces that he has issued a $91 million contract to the SBC Consortium (Smartmatic, Bizta, and CANTV) to develop Venezuela’s new voting systems.
Bizta, which is managed by the same people as Smartmatic, is in charge of creating the source code SAES, Smartmatic is responsible for developing the machines, and CANTV is responsible for providing the telephone lines for the transmission of votes and technical support on election day.
Source:
1.www.caracaschronicles.com/2004/05/28/another-detail-cne-forgot-to-disclose/
1. Why did the Venezuelan government award such a valuable contract to two minuscule emerging companies with no experience in elections?
2. Was it due to the Venezuelan regime’s ability to control the development of the software and manipulate the outcomes?
3. Does this mark the start of building one-party regimes through electronic manipulation of democratic processes?
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