Summary

Among the first countries in the world, Estonia aims at organising free, general and uniform elections by electronic means. The introduction of new means of communications into public administration creates more possibilities for people to take part in the political discussion and, consequently, in the exercise of power. When used for the holding of elections, electronic means of communication must guarantee that the elections are general, secret, uniform and free. The present reality is that only those having access to the Internet and with some Internet using skills can vote. This may prejudice the guarantee of the generality of elections. Also, the freedom of elections may be at peril as the pressure on and control of voting cannot be entirely precluded if voting takes place at home, work or a public Internet point. In addition, in the case of e-elections, the anonymity of voters cannot be ensured by the usual measures applied in polling divisions but can only be guaranteed by state-of-the-art technical solutions. However, it is not possible to ensure that an unauthorised person does not look at the computer screen during the voting. An electronic auditing of voters is also necessary. The author of the article proposes possibilities for observing the above-mentioned principles. The author also maps issues to be solved before e-elections are held. Finally the author focuses on the perspectives of e-elections in Estonia and analyses the readiness of the society and legal system for such elections.