SAGEM in Mauritania: Fingerprints for Democracy

SAGEM in Mauritania: Fingerprints for Democracy

"7 January 2002 - The Mauritanian Government has entrusted SAGEM with securing the process of the general and town council elections that took place on 19 and 26 October 2001 with its biometric identification systems. All parties and the international observers present in the country were completely satisfied with the voting process, which concerned over one million registered voters.

SAGEM’s Defence and Security Division had already been entrusted with modernising the country’s identity registries by producing an identity card for each citizen. The uniqueness of the card was guaranteed by comparing fingerprints. For the voting process, SAGEM followed an original 3-steps approach:

• Setting-up a voters database based on the population registries and distributed by polling stations,
• Editing voters lists and producing massively voters cards,
• In several polling stations, double-checking on a portable biometric terminal :

- of the authenticity of the ID-card by comparing the card holder’s fingerprints with the data stocked on the card,

- of the holder’s registration for the specific polling station by comparing his/her identity with the list of citizens allowed to vote in this specific polling station.

This programme, which was implemented in record time, is a world first in the field of public voting. It gives SAGEM a key position in world-wide administration modernisation programs.

Press Information :
Hervé PHILIPPE
Senior VP, Chief Financial Officer
Tel. +33 1 40 70 62 57
Fax. +33 1 40 70 62 15
E-mail: herve.philippe@sagem.com"

http://www.sagem.com/