EDF position paper on the reform of the European Union Electoral Law

The European Disability Forum (EDF) welcomes the European Parliament legislative initiative to reform the European Union (EU) electoral law of 1976, as well as its commitment to make the European Parliament elections more inclusive for the 100 million persons with disabilities who live in the EU.

In the 2019 EU elections, approximately 400,000 persons with disabilities in 14 Member States were deprived from their right to vote. Many more persons with disabilities could not exercise this very basic political right because of lack of accessibility of the elections, restrictions in choosing assistance to vote, and lack of specific measures to guarantee the possibility to vote independently and in secret. In eight Member States, people who cannot get to a polling station (because of accessibility barriers, reduced mobility, or living in a residential institution), do not have any other possibility to vote by themselves – not even by postal voting.

Therefore, given the European Parliament’s intention of setting up common provisions to strengthen the EU’s elections system, EDF would like to propose a set of amendments to the draft report gathered on this position paper.