LEADER OF the Jamaica Labour Party, Edward Seaga has backed party chairman, Senator Ryan Peralto on his decision to secure a patent to the electronic voting system which is being developed to prevent electoral fraud in Jamaica.
Mr. Seaga said that Mr. Peralto acted to safeguard the interest of the country in patenting the system. In a statement on Tuesday, Mr. Seaga backed Mr. Peralto's plan to have a Trust established to handle the royalties that could be earned from the system.
"None of these earnings will come to him although he was the lead person in initiating the system," Mr. Seaga said. "There could be nothing more generous than the position taken by Ryan Peralto."
It was reported over the weekend that Mr. Peralto had acquired a US patent to the voting system in 1999. The Senator said he applied for the patent after the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC) gave him the go ahead.
However, it emerged this week that a major sticking point between Mr. Peralto and the EAC over the establishment of the Trust that would manage the royalties earned from the system, is the insistence by Mr. Peralto that the body should be named after him and his family should have the right to name directors to its board.
Mr. Peralto's request was backed by Mr. Seaga. "If he did not request this himself, the nation should be offering to name the Trust in his honour in gratitude for the work he has done without reward to give the country an electoral system free from fraud for the first time at last," he said.
The multimillion dollar system which would allow voters to be identified by fingerprints and cast their ballots from any polling station, has been repeatedly offered by the JLP as the solution to the problem of electoral fraud.
