On Thursday 21 December, the European Disability Forum (EDF) published an in-depth reaction to the ‘Guide of Good Electoral Practices for People with Disabilities’ published earlier this month by the European Commission, as part of its 2021-2030 strategy to make the EU’s electoral processes more accessible to people with disabilities. This EDF position paper sheds critical light on the guide’s recommendations, focusing specifically on the electoral rights of people with disabilities within the European Union.
While it represents a step forward for electoral accessibility, the guide fails, according to the EDF, to address comprehensively the fundamental disparities in the voting and eligibility rights of people with disabilities across EU Member States.
A major concern is the persistence of legal barriers, particularly for people with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities.
While it proposes improvements in accessibility, the guide does not address the fundamental issue of guaranteeing the right to vote to all people with disabilities, regardless of their legal capacity. This gap highlights a persistent inequality within the EU, where the electoral rights of people with disabilities vary considerably from one Member State to another.
Commission guide: https://aeur.eu/f/a85
EDF report on political participation: https://aeur.eu/f/a7w (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)