Stakeholders continue to manipulate information about the ballot marker used in the October 26 election, reads the statement, released today by the Central Election Commission.

“The election administration has consistently clarified that the special markers used to mark choices on the ballot were supplied by “Smartmatic”. This is confirmed by the contract signed with the company, including the receipt and handover documents for the markers, which are public and available on the state procurement electronic system. Despite this, some politicians continue to falsely assure the public that the CEC has changed the markers, a blatant lie intended to mislead the public.

Based on the above, we would like to present to the public a letter from “Smartmatic”, in which the company confirms that the marker shown by politicians and claimed to have been changed by the CEC was, in fact, received by the election administration directly from “Smartmatic”.

“We hereby confirm that the marking pen shown in the picture below was delivered by “Smartmatic” as part of the scope of the contract for the October Elections, and in compliance with the requirement of black and quick drying ink.

There markers were part of the consumables included in the kits assembled for Election purposes during the Election configuration process where “Smartmatic” provided on-site support”, - reads letter received from Smartmatic”.