ESTONIA FIRST COUNTRY TO HOLD ONLINE ELECTIONS

In October, Estonia became the first country to enabled voters on nation wide level to vote in local elections on the Internet.

About half a million voters participated in the election, of these about 6000 votes were on the Internet, reported the National Electoral Committee.

Election officials told the Associated Press that they considered the elections a success and had not received any reports on glitches or attempted hacking.

The online system works through use of an electronic identification card. Since 2002, the card has been mandatory for all Estonian residents older than 15 years.

To vote online, users must insert their cards into their computers and log on to the voting website. Once authenticated, they cast their ballots through an encrypted system and then affix their digital signatures to very the selections before transmitting them.

Estonia is said to be the first country that has carried out Internet voting nationwide in an actual election, although France, the UK and the U.S. have also conducted pilot project on Internet voting.