Letters sent to dead people to vote a result of ‘system glitch’

The interior ministry issued an apology on Wednesday, after letters went out to dead people to register to vote.

The issue came to light, after a father published a letter online from the civil registry and migration department, asking for a person due to turn 18 to register to vote in the upcoming presidential elections.

According to SigmaLive, who spoke with the father Mr Christakis, the child was born prematurely, and subsequently died.

The father said that he and his wife had had a death certificate issued for the baby.

“We lost our child 17-18 years ago when my wife was eight months pregnant. Then we got a death certificate. What do they want me to do, take the letter to the grave for him to sign?”

In their apology for the upset caused by the letter, the interior ministry expressed their sadness over the “unfortunate event”.

They blamed it on a fault in a system they use, operating since 2000, which fails to register all the data about residents including the date of death.

“As a result, during a recent mailing of 29,563 letters, as part of the campaign to register voters aged 18-25, another 10 similar cases were found,” the ministry said in their statement.

They added that the necessary actions have been taken to prevent similar issues from arising in the future.