Indra to manage the vote counting at the General Election on 9 March
Over 10,000 PDAs will be distributed to the polling stations to convey the data electronically
An e-learning system will be available to voters.
The electoral portal will be available to various sectors of the population, include state-of-the art multimedia content and offer an easy-to-understand search engine
Indra has won the euros 12M contract to count the votes at the Spanish General Election on 9 March.
For the first time ever, the IT company will use over 10,000 PDAs to record the information received from all over Spain. These devices will assist in sending data from the polling stations to the information reception centre where it will be processed automatically.
Voters will be able to access the updated electoral portal with its advanced multimedia content and simulators which will answer any questions regarding the elections: postal voting, overseas voting, how the electoral system works, etc. Also, its design will facilitate access for the visually impaired in line with the more stringent international standards.
A larger number of channels will be available keeping citizens up-to-date as to how the voting is going. Updates via SMS will be sent at certain stages of the voting process. And for the first time ever, citizens will be able to find out the count in real time using their PDA wherever there is mobile coverage. Lastly, the project includes an e-learning programme for voters aimed at improving their knowledge using simulated exercises based on real cases.
Approximately 35 million citizens are entitled to vote in the General Election on 9 March at some 300,000 ballot boxes. Nearly 60,000 polling stations will be set up and some 727 million ballot papers distributed.
Indra has boosted its international profile over the past year at elections in Norway, France, the UK and Germany. The company has also been chosen to count the votes in the elections to the Andalusia Regional Parliament which will also take place on 9 March as well as London’s Assembly elections in May. Indra’s track record comprises roles in 280 elections worldwide (Spain, France, Norway, Portugal, the US, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, etc.), bringing over 1.80 billion voters to the polls. It has pioneered the use of new technologies such as PDAs in Spain, e-voting in France and e-counting in Europe.
Indra is Spain’s leading IT company and one of the main players in Europe and Latin America. It is the second European company in its sector by market cap and is one of the three Spanish companies which invests the most in R+D. Revenues in 2007 topped €2.15bn with a third coming from its international market. Indra employs over 22,000 people and has clients in more than 80 countries.