Ombudsman asks Constitutional Court to rule on legality of bar and QR codes on ballots

The Office of the Ombudsman submitted a petition to the Constitutional Court today, seeking a ruling on the constitutionality of the Election Commission’s printing of bar and QR codes on the ballots used for the February 8thgeneral election.

Complaints have already been filed with the Ombudsman’s Office by some political parties and politicians, claiming that the printing of such codes could be used to trace ballots back to individual voters and how they voted. If this is the case, it would mean that the voting was not confidential which would, in turn, be a violation of Sections 83 and 85 of the Constitution and of the rights and liberties of the voters.

There were also complaints that the numbers of ballots cast in the constituency and party-list elections did not match the number of voters who actually turned out to cast ballots.

If the court rules that the printing of bar and Q codes on the ballots is unconstitutional, the February 8th election would be nullified and a new general election would have to be held.