Elderly homes’ voting day rankles with son of dementia sufferer

The son of a 90-year-old elderly resident in one of Malta’s private homes was forced to hand over her voting document to the police, in spite of his “well-founded fear” that the dementia patient could be coerced into voting for candidates in the European elections, under undue influence of staff there.

5,069 elderly residents were on Saturday eligible to vote up to 10pm.

But a concerned voter on Saturday told MaltaToday said he was not allowed to take the voting document to his mother, and instead was forced to hand it over to the police officer who came to collect the document.

“My mother suffers from mild-to-moderate dementia… she needs familiar surroundings and familiar people, she has only peripheral and blurred vision, she doesn’t watch television. She gave us her voting document  because she had no intention of voting.

“My fear is that by having had to hand back the voting document [yesterday], she is vulnerable to staff asking her to vote for candidates she is not aware of.”

Her son yesterday told MaltaToday that a police officer came to his house personally to demand the voting document so that it is placed in his mother’s hands, or else face police charges.

“I spoke to an electoral commissioner, after the police told me that my mother ‘had to have’ her voting document just in case she actually decides she wants to vote before the 10pm deadline. I explained that she suffers from dementia.

“Additionally, she has a dual citizenship: I argued that she might be interested in voting for candidates in another member state. Would hospital staff or the assistant electoral commissioners on duty at the home, be aware of this voting right?”

Her son said the electoral commissioner said the AECs on site would ask his mother whether she wanted to vote. “I explained that I felt safer if she did not vote, because she is very vulnerable to strangers due to her dementia.

“Dementia sufferers are helpless in such situations, and if she actually votes she would have forgone her right to vote for candidates of her other member state’s citizenship.”