Ulaanbaatar
2020 local council elections: Voting machines tested, alcohol sales banned October 14-16
Politics
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. On October 11, the General Election Commission (GEC) conducted a nationwide check of the readiness of data transmission of the automated electoral system in preparation for upcoming elections for local government bodies of Citizens’ Representative Khurals of aimags, soum, capital cities and districts.
The purpose of data transmission testing is to check the operability of the machines for counting votes at polling stations as well as to confirm the accuracy of the ballot counting process ahead of the local council elections. During the testing, a pre-prepared test bulletins were used, and no system failures were recorded.
On the polling day scheduled on October 15, Thursday, 2,615 counting machines will be used at 2,148 polling stations across the country. Depending on the number of constituencies in the region, one device will be installed at each one of 1,681 polling stations, and two devices at each one of 467 polling stations.
A total of 2,559 civil servants will be working at polling stations in 21 aimags and 9 districts of the capital, including 30 IT teams and officers responsible for ensuring the smooth operation of the automated system during the elections.
Moreover, in line with the law on elections for Citizens Representative Khurals of aimags, the capital city, soums and districts, the polling day of October 15, 2020, is declared a public holiday throughout the country to allow eligible voters to cast their ballot.
Acting Governor of Ulaanbaatar city J.Batbayasgalan has also issued an ordinance to prohibit selling and serving of alcoholic beverages on the territory of Ulaanbaatar city between October 14 and 16. Also, the government's sports and cultural departments will not organize any art and cultural performances and sports tournaments involving a large groups of people in the capital city on these days.
