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EDF 6th Human Rights Report 2022: political participation of persons with disabilities

EDF 6th Human Rights Report 2022: political participation of persons with disabilities

The Sixth Edition of the European Disability Forum’s Human Rights Report focuses on the rights of persons with disabilities to vote and to stand as candidates in the European Parliament elections, also known as ‘EU elections’.

It explores the legal and practical barriers that prevent millions of persons with disabilities from exercising the same political rights as other EU citizens and highlights consequences, such as the underrepresentation in politics of persons with disabilities.

This report provides recommendations for both EU policy makers and national governments, as well as for EU level and national political parties, in such a way to allow the EU and national governments to discuss with DPOs what are the best solutions, taking into account the national voting culture and context. The aim is to provide data, tools, and recommendations for governments and DPOs to work hand in hand to reduce inequalities and ensure accessible elections at the national and EU level.

By 2024, when the next EU elections will take place, we hope that more persons with disabilities will be active as politicians. By 2024, we hope there will no differences between the political rights of persons with disabilities depending on the EU country they live in and that we all can vote independently and in secret. By 2024, we hope that the greatest democratic project in the world will include us as well.

Download the report:

About the EPUB: the e-book takes into account the needs of visual impaired people to be read and navigated through the use of assistive technologies. It complies with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Guidelines and it is certified by Fondazione LIA.

2024 update:

  • Slovenia now allows adults under guardianship to vote and stand as candidates (however, they are not subject to obligatory voting).
  • Luxembourg now allows adults under guardianship to vote and stand as candidates (however, they are not subject to obligatory voting).
  • Luxembourg established measures to guarantee the accessibility of the voting ballot.
  • Luxembourg offers transport to the polling stations.
  • Luxembourg improved awareness-raising measures.
  • Austria enacted related legal obligations concerning the accessibility of polling stations (joining Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden).
  • Greece now allows postal voting for the European elections
  • Greece now provides a registry of polling stations accessible to persons with disabilities.
  • Greece now mandates sign language and captioning for the broadcasting of messages related to elections.
  • Slovenia now allows adults under guardianship to vote and stand as candidates (however, they are not subject to obligatory voting).

Executive summary in Sign Language. Watch the video below

Transcription:

The European Parliament elections take place every five years and constitutes one of the largest democratic undertakings worldwide. Despite a minimum set of common rules in the European Union legal basis, EU Member States have almost complete discretion in how they arrange their elections. This creates disparities in the equal opportunities to participate in these elections among EU citizens and across countries; more so in the case of persons with disabilities.

In the 2019 European Parliament elections, approximately 400,000 persons with disabilities in 14 countries were deprived from their right to vote on the basis of their disability. Particularly worrying are the legal provisions in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Luxembourg, Poland and Romania, where a person under total or partial guardianship is automatically denied
voting rights. Recent cases of strategic litigation by Disabled Persons’ Organisations (DPOs) and lawyers, with the support of committed politicians, resulted in substantial legal improvements in several countries prior to the last EU elections.

The right to stand as a candidate is even less common among EU countries. Only Austria, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Netherlands and Sweden uphold the right for all persons with disabilities to stand for office. Unfortunately, there are very few examples of measures that have been put in place to support candidates with disabilities. Four countries (Belgium, France, Cyprus and Greece) do not provide any alternative or advance means for voting, which de facto prevents all those voters who cannot attend the polling stations on election day from personally casting their vote. This lack of alternative methods of voting is particularly detrimental for persons with disabilities. In the case of Belgium and France, voters have the possibility of revealing their vote to a person who can act as proxy and vote on their behalf.

More positively, the majority of EU countries have set alternative and advance means for all voters, and some particularly for persons with disabilities. These include postal voting, early voting in accessible polling stations, the possibility to choose a more accessible polling station, internet voting (in the case of Estonia) and the provision of mobile ballot boxes visiting the person’s home or key locations such as residential institutions or hospitals.

Lack of accessibility remains one of the main barriers for persons with disabilities to exercise their right to vote. This concerns not only polling stations but also the design of the ballot paper, the voting booth, the voting machines (as in the case of some parts of Belgium and Bulgaria) and any information or communication provided to voters, including through public
media.

Several good practices have been put in place in different EU countries. Some of the most successful – in collaboration with DPOs – concern the provision of reasonable accommodation. This includes the possibility of alternative methods of casting votes (such as mobile ballot boxes), and the provision of assistive tools that facilitate casting a vote independently and secretly (such as Braille and tactile stencils).

In line with the CRPD, the majority of EU countries offer persons with disabilities the possibility of freely choosing assistance to vote. However, in Greece and Malta, only election officials can assist persons with disabilities, something that may effectively discourage voters to participate in the elections.

Last, even though the EU legal basis recognises equal treatment among EU citizens living in another Member State to participate in the European Parliament elections and in municipal elections, the provision of accessibility and reasonable accommodation greatly varies between countries and often
decreases in local elections.

The European Parliament has expressed its intention of setting up common provisions for strengthening the EU’s electoral system. With the 2024 European Parliament elections approaching, we are urging EU and national decision makers to acknowledge, consider and implement our recommendations, which are presented in full at the end of the report.

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