The Xunta de Galicia (Galician Regional Government) has entrusted Indra, one of the main information technology multinationals in Europe and Latin America, with the scrutiny of the regional elections called for March 1st. Indra will provide comprehensive support to the entire electoral process and will make its work centers in the community available to the regional executive, as well as a team made up of more than 260 Galician professionals and more than 50 experts in electoral processes, in addition to the most advanced technologies developed by the IT company in this area.
For the first time in Galicia, PDAs will be used to transmit data from polling station desks to reception centers. The use of these devices streamlines the process and reduces the risk of human error by automating the shipment. If there is any data balancing error, the PDA detects it and forces its correction before carrying out the transmission. In total, more than 1,800 PDAs will be used, which will be distributed among municipalities with more than 24,000 inhabitants, which will have 1 device per polling station, and the municipalities that promote the Territorial Rebalancing Plan of Galicia 2007-2010, which will have an agenda per electoral college. Indra is the only company that has used PDAs for the provisional count in regional and national elections.
The electoral process website (www.eleccions09.xunta.es) will offer distance e-learning training to all PDA transmitters starting on February 5, aimed at improving their preparation by incorporating simulation exercises based on real cases.
Likewise, the transmission channels of the counting data to citizens during election day have been increased through subscription SMS services, through which will report the results obtained by reaching certain levels of scrutiny. In addition, Galicians will also be able to access the count in real time for the first time from a PDA or Blackberry.
In order to increase the reliability of the scrutiny, there will be two data collection centers (DCC); one located in the Santiago de Compostela Conference and Exhibition Center, where the data from A Coruña and Lugo will be collected, and another installed in the Indra Software Lab in A Coruña, with an area of 4,500 m2, where the data will be received. from Ourense and Pontevedra. In case of force majeure, any of the DCC could be used to collect the data from all the provinces. In addition, all the computer infrastructures that will be used in the process will have redundant backup elements in a volume greater than 20% to respond to incidents due to unrelated causes.
Indra will also support the provincial electoral boards in carrying out the final scrutiny and in the counting of the CERA vote, very important for Galicia given the high number of voters who are abroad.
Galician abroad
The call for 1-M also becomes the first electoral process of those held in Galicia that offers Galicians abroad the possibility of viewing the provisional count live thanks to the installation of large-format screens in the delegation of the Xunta in Buenos Aires. This is a highly relevant initiative, especially considering that the number of Galicians residing in Argentina alone exceeds 115,000 people. Indra thus also makes its capacities outside Galicia available to the regional government, taking advantage of its network of centers. The IT company has more than 15 years of experience in Argentina and has 800 professionals.
The Galician colony in Madrid will also have the necessary equipment to view the provisional scrutiny from the Xunta delegation in the capital.
Likewise, the technology multinational will set up a panel of 320 monitors in the Santiago de Compostela Conference and Exhibition Center to project the results of each of the town halls.
Leader in the development of electoral processes
In recent years, Indra has strengthened its international profile by holding elections in Norway, France, Argentina, among others. In addition, in 2008 it recounted the elections to the General Courts in Spain and to the Parliament of Andalusia, as well as to the mayoralty and Assembly of London and to the legislative elections in Angola. Indra has accumulated experience of participating in more than 280 successful electoral processes around the world with more than 1,800 million voters involved, being a pioneer in the use of new technologies, such as the use of PDA’s, electronic voting, electronic -counting, Internet voting and the development of software for citizen participation.
Indra invests every year in R+D+i to ensure that citizens can access electoral information through multiple channels, guaranteeing the transparency of the processes: Blackberry, PDA, SMS, Results Portal, Extended Diffusion (Buenos Aires/Madrid) Or email. The Indra Electoral Count System (SIRE), tested, audited and contrasted in 20 countries, guarantees the security, quality and transparency of the process.
Strong presence in Galicia
Indra currently has a staff of more than 300 professionals in Galicia, with a local presence in A Coruña, Vigo, Santiago de Compostela, Ourense and Ferrol.
One of its most important initiatives is the start-up of the new Software Lab in A Coruña, which will accommodate more than 400 professionals graduated from Galician universities. With this center, Indra will provide professionals from the Community with the opportunity to develop a complete professional career in the leading ICT company in Spain without having to change their residence or give up their quality of life, while at the same time promoting an increase in productivity of the ICT sector in Galicia, exporting the products developed here throughout the world.
Indra is the number 1 information technology multinational in Spain and one of the leading companies in Europe and Latin America. It is the second European company by market capitalization in its sector and it is also the second Spanish company that invests the most in R&D. In 2007, its sales amounted to €2,167 million, of which a third came from the international market. It has more than 24,000 professionals and clients in more than 90 countries.
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