The polling stations haven‘t been appropriately equipped for ensuring the right to vote of the persons with disabilities. The polling places didn’t have ramps or these didn’t meet the recommended standards. Some of the persons with disabilities could not exercise their right to vote as they do not have or never had identification papers. These are the findings of observers of the Moldova Institute for Human Rights (IDOM), who oversaw the electoral process at nine temporary placement centers for persons with disabilities and in psychiatrist hospitals.
In a news conference at IPN, coordinator of the IDOM monitoring and reporting program Dumitru Russu said some of the persons from placement centers do not have identification papers as these usually have stayed there for a long period of time and were forgotten by society. A large part of them have never had an identity card or a birth certificate. “In each institution, about 30 persons do not have identification papers and they have therefore never voted,” stated the program coordinator.
In the process of monitoring the electoral process, it was established that the persons at five polling stations didn’t manage to vote because the mobile ballot box that ensured this process could not cope in the allotted timeframe. “We consider this shortcoming should be taken into account and removed at the next elections,” stated Dumitru Russu.
According to the experts, not all the stakeholders involved in the electoral process understand how the persons with disabilities should exercise their right to vote. In accordance with the international standards, the persons with disabilities have the right to vote assisted by a person they trust. In this regard, the method of checking the independence of the trustworthy person is no clearly defined.
Dumitru Russu noted there were cases when other observers tried to intervene in the electoral process and prevent the person accompanied by someone from voting. This procedure should be detailed so that it is clear who the reliable person is and how the independence of this can be checked.
Radu Bobeică, coordinator of the election monitoring at psychiatrist hospitals and temporary placement centers for persons with disabilities, said not all the beneficiaries of the institutions visited by the IDOM observers were open and ready to receive information. Before the election day, the experts paid nine visits to all the institutions so as to provide information about the electoral process.
At the February 24 parliamentary elections, IDOM has 30 observers. In the institutions monitored on the election day, 1,131 persons of the total of 3,104 voted in elections. The experts said the low participation rate is not necessarily related to the voting conditions, but rather to the unwillingness to vote.
