The €33,000 Estonian-produced system will have speech and voting consoles, user authentication using fingerprints, screens and monitors for displaying information and a supporting information system.

TALLINN — The Estonian foreign ministry announced Wednesday that they will support creating an electronic information system for the young, corruption-plagued Afghanistan parliament to make it more transparent.

The €33,000 project, implemented by the Tallinn-based e-Governance Academy includes electronic voting, attendance registration and a speech system, which will be developed and implemented in Afghanistan’s parliament buildings. The system will have speech and voting consoles, user authentication using fingerprints, screens and monitors for displaying information and a supporting information system.

Urmas Paet, Estonia’s foreign minister said in a press release that the modern system will make  the Afghan parliament’s work more trustworthy, transparent and effective.

“These characteristics are requirements for developing the national order and gaining people’s trust,” Paet said. “Estonia’s experience shows that the skilled use of information technology improves the government’s efficiency and transparency.”

The parliament is currently using an archaic paper slip system to record votes, ministry spokeswoman Kersti Luha told AFP.

“Since there is currently no voting system in the Afghan parliament, voting takes place using red and green slips of paper,” Luha said.

Estonia currently has 155 soldiers serving in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

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