Disabled voters want right to person of trust when voting

The federation of Maltese organisations for disabled persons are insisting that vulnerable persons who will vote in the coming European elections get to choose their own person of trust, and not a polling station commission while voting.

The MFOPD (Malta Federation of Organisations Persons with Disability) said personal assistants are an asset to any person with disability in exercising their right to an independent secret vote.

“As the situation stands, vulnerable persons can only be assisted by the polling station commissioners who in no way could be considered as ‘persons of their own choice’. It is a reality for the Federation to have received comments from vulnerable voters complaining that they were not granted their wish to be assisted by members of their family, as people enjoying their trust, when it came to voting,” Maria Pia Gauci said.

“Such a need is even more significant with regards to persons with intellectual disabilities who should be among those whose right to vote be not withheld.”

Between 23 and 26 May, hundreds of millions of European citizens will be exercising their democratic right to elect their preferred members to the European Parliament.

“Around half a million citizens are so far deprived of this same right just because they are persons who are deemed to lack legal capacity due to their disability,” Gauci said.

“The Maltese political parties need not be immune to the voice of the federation and its organisations demanding that they adopt policies to ensure the democratic right to vote for persons with disability in view of the State’s endorsement of the UN CRPD. It is a fundamental fact that everyone, without any form of discrimination, should be able to play their significant role in shaping the future course of the European Union.”

Article 31 of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disability (UN CRPD) protects “the right of persons with disabilities to vote by secret ballot in elections and public referendums without intimidation” as well as for persons with disabilities to the right “to stand for elections, to effectively hold office and perform all public functions at all levels of government”.

“It is a shocking fact that 500,000 EU citizens in 16 Member States, including Malta, will not be allowed to exercise this fundamental right,” Gauci said.

In 2017 in Slovakia, the Supreme Court ruled that the law tying the right to vote to legal capacity was unconstitutional. In February 2019, it was the turn of the German Federal Constitutional Court which issued a similar decision regarding participation in national elections.

On 6 December 2017, delegates of the 4th European Parliament of Persons with Disability adopted a manifesto demanding accessibility to polling stations and voting procedures; availability of campaign facilities and materials in accessible formats; and the collation and analysis of data on political participation of persons with disability. “The Manifesto highlights the fact that persons with disability residing in institutions too should be guaranteed their right to vote independently,” Gauci said.