Last month the Socialist Party, whose standard-bearer Segolene Royal still trails conservative frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy, called for use of the e-voting equipment to be suspended in the 80 municipalities that opted for the machines. The Socialists claimed the e-voting machines had been "sharply disputed in countries in which they've been used." News reports referred to Ireland's decision to suspend use of the machines as one example.

"The fear shown by numerous voters faced with a system they don't know runs the risk of keeping them away from the polls, " the Socialists said in a statement.

Risks of fraud were very real, the party added.

Last October, a Dutch election was thrown into crisis when hackers managed to easily reprogramme Nedap e-voting machines and wirelessly snoop on votes cast on other machines. A popular news programme highlighted the hackers' exploits. Several precincts returned to the use of paper ballots.

Several other candidates and activist groups have since come out against the use of the machines. Centrist Francois Bayrou called for their use to be suspended, as have several leftist candidates. An activist group, Citizens and Computer Technicians for a Vote Verified by the Elector, called for a suspension of e-voting in an online petition that so far has gathered nearly 40,000 names. Sarkozy and his centre-right ruling party, who lead in current opinion polls, favour their use.

Mirroring the debate on electronic voting in Ireland and the US, French opponents argued that the lack of a paper trail meant that the result was inherently unreliable but with no means to conduct a recount. Critics have also highlighted that the second most popular vendor after Nedap is the same US company responsible for machines at the centre of controversial close elections last year in several American states.

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment in Dublin declined to comment on the French situation, other than to quote the second report of the Commission on Electronic Voting set up after the original vote controversy.

The report says, "The chosen system can potentially enhance and deliver real efficiencies in the administration of elections in Ireland. . . The main hardware components of the system, namely the voting machine, the programming/reading unit and the ballot module are of good quality and design. They are robust against failure and are well suited to their purpose."

Contrary to some reports and widespread public assumption, Ireland's e-voting plan is . . . officially . . . still on track. The official status is that the project is merely delayed. The project's website, www. electronicvoting. ie, is still up and running. Its helpline was still staffed when the Sunday Tribune rang last week. "The timing of the further use of the system is dependent on ongoing work of the cabinet committee on electronic voting, " said an environment spokesman.