The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) clarifies and enshrines in its Article 29 the right to political participation for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others. It requires State Parties to the Convention to take measures to ensure the right to vote and the right to stand for elections for all persons with disabilities.

Moreover, State Parties must promote an environment in which persons with disabilities can participate in public affairs, including through the activities of non-governmental organisations, and forming and joining organisations of persons with disabilities.

Nevertheless, it is extremely common for persons with disabilities to be deprived of these rights purely on the basis of their disability.

Despite the ratification of the Convention by the EU and all its Member States, millions of persons with disabilities cannot fully take part in the democratic process due to various legal and practical barriers. These barriers impact all areas related to political participation:

• legal capacity and the right to vote
• access to information about the political process
• access to information about political parties
• inaccessibility of the various infrastructure and processes to cast your vote
• access to and discrimination when standing as a candidate

In the 2019 European elections, these barriers resulted in approximately 400,000 persons being legally deprived of their right to vote on the basis of their disability in at least 14 Member States. Many more did not participate in the election process due to a wide variety of barriers.

The right to stand as candidate usually requires the person to be a registered voter. Therefore, persons deprived of their right to vote will also be barred from standing as candidates. Only 8 Member States guarantee the right to stand for office for all persons with disabilities, without restrictions, in the European Parliament elections:

• Sweden
• Denmark
• The Netherlands
• Germany
• Austria
• Croatia
• Italy
• Spain

Voters with disabilities who live in an EU country other than their own may face additional barriers to political participation.

Finally, accessibility of electoral processes remains the main practical barrier to participation, throughout the entirety of the electoral process. Persons with disabilities face various barriers when trying to learn about candidates and political parties, seeking information on how to vote, and casting ballots. For example:

• National Election Management Bodies do not all provide accessible information to voters with disabilities, both in print and through their websites.
• Political parties are under no obligation from the EU to produce their information and organise their events in an accessible manner.
• Alternative and advanced means of voting are not consistently available across all Member States nor to all voters, which are the main alternatives to physically going to the polling station on election day.
• The existence and implementation of physical accessibility requirements for polling stations varies widely, remaining an issue of concern in most countries.
• The availability of assistive voting tools, such as tactile ballot sleeves and stencils, are far from being the standard.

EDF urges EU and national decision makers to acknowledge, consider and implement the following recommendations to address barriers to political participation:

• Guarantee the right to vote and stand for election, regardless of legal capacity status
• Maximise accessibility to the proceedings, facilities and materials of the elections
• Provide reasonable accommodation so that persons with disabilities can vote independently and secretly
• Ensure the free choice of assistance
• Cooperate with organisations of persons with disabilities to assess and define how to solve the legal and practical barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from participating in elections, both as voters and candidates

See EDF’s 6^th Human Rights Report on Political Participation of Persons with Disabilities for our full recommendations and best practices highlights.

• Reform of the EU Electoral Law

The European Parliament adopted a proposal to reform the EU’s electoral law in May 2022. The aim was to set up common provision to strengthen the EU’s elections systems. EDF advocated for the inclusion of several aspects important to the full recognition and inclusion of persons with disabilities through our position paper on the reform of the European Union Electoral Law.

The Council has yet to consider the proposal.

• Mobile Union Citizens Directives

In November 2021, the European Commission launched two proposals to revise Council Directive 93/109/EC and Council Directive 94/80/EC which govern the political rights of mobile EU citizens for European and municipal elections respectively. EDF proposed amendments to the proposals to ensure voting rights and common accessibility requirements for the participation of persons with disabilities with our position paper on Mobile EU Citizens Directives.

• European Commission Guide on Good Electoral Practices

As part of the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030, the European Commission published a guide of good electoral practices addressing the participation of citizens with disabilities in the electoral process. EDF participated in a stakeholder focus group to advocate for a comprehensive and inclusive guide establishing common EU standards.

Publication of the guide on good electoral practices (PDF).

Accessible version of the guide on good electoral practices in all EU languages (ZIP file).

• Disability Rights in European Elections (DREE) Project

EDF coordinates a European funded project aimed at increasing the political participation of persons with disabilities, as voters, candidates and activists, ahead of the European elections in 2024.

Read more about the DREE project.

• 2024 European Election Campaign

The next European elections are set to take place from 6-9 June, 2024. In preparation, we drafted the EDF Manifesto on the European Elections 2024, which was adopted by nearly 700 delegates at the European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities.  The Manifesto contains 78 proposals that disability advocates and EDF will campaign to be adopted by political parties and candidates ahead of and following the elections.

Read more about EDF’s election campaign.