On 30 April, the Council of Ministers approved a memorandum of understanding for the development of a new offline electronic voting system in Belgium. This falls under the responsibility of Minister for Home Affairs Bernard Quintin (MR). The 15-year contract, worth 40 million euros, with supplier Smartmatic dates from 2012 and therefore expires in 2027.
It is clear why it has taken so long for the federal government to give the green light for a new procedure. In Wallonia, voting is still done with pen and paper. Brussels votes entirely electronically, and in Flanders, 159 of the 285 municipalities hold digital elections.
Flanders therefore pays around 80 per cent of the costs. For the new contract, the Flemish government has earmarked 40 million euros for the 2029 elections. In Flanders, Minister Hilde Crevits (CD&V) is responsible.
Incidentally, the federal public contract has yet to be put out to tender. There is usually a gap of at least nine months between the tender and the award.
In addition to the hardware costs for Smartmatic, in 2022 the federal government also awarded a contract worth 45 million euros to Paragon Customer Communications for the development of new central election software
