He explained that there are several methods for collecting signatures; however, most have opted to use the same method, which has saturated the system.
The User Service Center (CAU) answers calls to collect signatures. Photo: Courtesy
The vice-president magistrate of the Electoral Court (TE), Alfredo Juncá, referred to the irregularities presented in the entity’s signature collection platform and assured that the platform is working regularly regarding the questions that the work has remained Grande stated that this is not the case but that “the system must be understood because it has certain dimensions”.
Juncá explained on Radio Panama that the process of collecting signatures for the free application is not a process that takes a day, a week, or a month; because the candidates cannot pretend that all the signatures can be registered at one time.
“They have until July 2023 to be able to complete the registration of all the firms,” he assured.
He explained that in those constituencies where there are only three or fewer candidates there is no problem with the collection because they only have to reach the threshold of the number of signatures necessary and automatically there are two candidates instead in those where there are 4 or more candidates are running for a position there is a certain desperation because the candidacy is a little more complicated.
The magistrate referred to the fact that the pre-candidates have denounced irregularities on the platform and explained that the problem lies in the fact that there are several methods for collecting signatures, however, the majority have opted to use the same method, which has saturated the system. .
As an example, he said “if I have 4 doors for you to enter a house and everyone wants to enter through door number one, what will happen? Not all of us can enter at the same time”, and added that the remaining three doors are being used to a lesser extent.
In this case, he said that among the options to register the signatures is the TE application, for which the candidate must pay $36 per year and make mobile phones available to make their use effective.
Also the self-service kiosks which in his opinion is the best option because they can be used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the detail with these kiosks is that they work through the fingerprint and sometimes it can be the case that the reading of the fingerprint takes time to register, giving the impression that the system does not work, “in this case it is verified that the reader is clean and if it is not, clean it” .
He said that this system, which is working 100%, requests proof of life from anyone who wants to register their signature, that is, it asks them a series of questions or guidelines that the person must follow, for example, look up or down to the right or smile and If the person does not comply with the instructions given by the machine, then the call is automatically closed, since the system may think that it is a photograph or that it is not the person who really wants to register this signature.
The magistrate stated that those who have some type of complaint or inconvenience, in terms of video calls, to record the signature, the entire process is recorded and that with the complaint filed, the recordings can be verified and see who is right And if there is any problem with the system to be able to correct it.
In the case of the candidates who complained that they do not appear as an option to register the signatures, he said that it is because they registered at the last minute, I assure you that those who registered at the beginning already appear on the platform, but those who registered during the last registration weekend it would take a little longer to appear in the application, because there is a process that must be followed and once the pre-candidate appears firmly as a candidate, they automatically enter the system and they can collect their signatures.
He explained that the kiosks have a database from the electoral court that registers the constituency of the person who wants to sign for x and y candidate, for example, if a person votes in the 8-1 circuit, they must sign for a candidate from that area and not for one of 3-1.
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