HÀ NỘI — The online poll on loudspeakers conducted by the Hà Nội’s Department of Information and Communication re-opened on Thursday afternoon after a three-day temporary closure because of a technical error.

The poll that was started on January 25 will be officially closed on Februray 25, 13 days before the previously fixed deadline on March 10.

While citizens have to answer questions about the necessity of loudspeakers as a public address system in wards and communes across the cities, they have been asked to provide information about their age and enter verification codes. This move aims to verify the authenticity of the feedback.

Earlier, on Tuesday, the Information and Communication Department temporarily closed the poll after it witnessed an unusual traffic that reversed the poll results — about 80 per cent of the responses before Monday said loudspeakers were unnecessary, while by Monday morning, 48 per cent of the total responses said it was necessary to continue using loudspeakers.

Phan Lan Tú, head of the department, told the media that the unusual increase in responses could be due to technical errors that allowed unreal feedbacks to be counted.

Earlier this year, Hà Nội People’s Committee Chairman Nguyễn Đức Chung asked concerned agencies to assess the necessity of using loudspeakers in all the communes and wards. The city has 584 commune-level administrative units, including 386 communes, 177 wards and 21 towns. Loudspeakers cost each unit a few hundred million Vietnamese đồng annually.

The poll was conducted amidst controversial opinions over the need of loudspeakers, which were used to raise an alarm before the bombing raids during wartime but today, are used to provide the local people with news, songs and information at dawn and dusk.

The information delivery channel is said to be much less competitive than others, particularly in the digital age.

Public opinions on loudspeakers are collected at https://hanoi.gov.vn/tham-do-y-kien. People can also email their response to pbcxbtt_sotttt@hanoi.gov.vn. — VNS