The software that will be used to count votes in the upcoming municipal elections is still not safe. Hackers can use the vulnerable software to influence the election results, experts that examined the software told RTL Nieuws.
Ethical hacker Sijmen Ruwhof discovered more than 50 vulnerabilities in the software. He calls ten of them 'high risk'.
A petition for a referendum on a new law that gives the Dutch intelligence services massive data mining capabilities, collected over 300 thousand signatures - the number necessary for an advisory referendum to be arranged. The Electoral Council must still check the validity of the signatures. Should they all prove valid, the referendum will be arranged during the municipal elections in March next year, NU.nl reports.
A group of Amsterdam students collected 10 thousand signatures for a referendum on a new data mining law, which the Dutch Senate adopted in July. That is the first milestone on organizing an advisory referendum on the new Intelligence and Security Services Act, RTL Z reports.
The Dutch electoral council announced the official results for the parliamentary results on Tuesday, and they were exactly the same as ANP's final projection last week. The election turnout was 81.9 percent, the highest since 1986. The new parliament will consist of 13 parties, the highest number since 1972.
Passengers on a KLM flight from Curacao to the Netherlands today will not be able to cast their vote in the parliamentary election. Their flight to the Netherlands was canceled, and the next flight only departs tomorrow, NOS reports.
A spokesperson for the Electoral Council told NOS that one of the passengers called them to find out if anything can be done. "It's very unfortunate, but we can't do a thing. At 9:00 p.m. tonight the polling stations close and those inside the polling stations can still cast their vote, but those who are too late can't."
Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk can not guarantee that no fraud was committed in the collection of signatures in support of the Ukraine referendum, he said in response to questions from law firm Bureau Brandeis on the matter.
Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk's decision to count the votes in the parliamentary elections by hand is unpractical, according to the Dutch association for local governments NVVB.
The votes in the upcoming parliamentary elections in March will all be counted by hand only, to avoid any chance of hackers interfering with the outcome, Minister Ronald Plasterk of Home Affairs announced on Wednesday. This follows concerns about the security of software used by the Electoral Council and warnings that the Dutch election may be targeted by foreign parties.
A total of 31 parties registered to take part in the parliamentary elections in the Netherlands on March 15th by submitting their lists of candidates on Monday, the Electoral Council announced on Tuesday, ANP reports.
A record number of 81 parties initially showed interest in taking part in the election, but 50 of them drop out for one reason or another. In the previous parliamentary elections in 2012, 48 parties initially registered but only 21 parties actually participated.
With 18 percent of the population having cast a ballot as of 1:30 p.m., voter turnout in the provincial elections was down two percent from four years ago. Turnout in 2011 was considered relatively high, when 56 percent of voters showed up at the polls.
By 10:30 this morning 7 percent of voters had already cast their votes in the provincial elections. That is 1 percent less than in the elections four years ago, according to research firm Ipsos.
