The persons with visual impairments had limited access to information placed on the websites of political parties. Of the 37 election contenders, only 19 have an active website. No website has an integrated menu accessible to persons with poor vision, shows a preliminary general local elections monitoring raport that was presented by INFONET Alliance in a news conference hosted by IPN.
According to Alliance member Ion Ciobanu, the photo galleries do not contain the description of the presented image, while some of the websites have the buttons unlabeled and this impedes the navigation of the user. In this connection, the recommendation is for the developers to include the designing of websites of AA standard, which provide functions for persons with poor vision and for blind persons, in their package of services.
INFONET Alliance executive director Victor Koroli noted that he formulated and submitted a request to political parties contending in elections, asking them to provide information about the number of members, including persons with disabilities from among these, aspects of campaign funding and how the funds were used to make the information accessible, political campaigning efforts made with persons with disabilities, including in residential institutions. Only two responses came. This indicator is worrisome as it points to problems related to transparency, perception and inclusion of the disability dimension in party activities.
He referred also to the accessibility of polling places, which remained a major problem on the agenda of the local public authorities. For example, a repeated assessment of the accessibility of infrastructure in 19 polling stations in Florești district didn’t reveal a positive change after the general audit conducted nationwide in 2022.
According to the data collected at national level, 28 persons with disabilities will contend in 13 territorial administrative units in the November 5, 2023 elections. Of these, three are from urban areas, while 25 are from rural areas. Eight are candidates for mayor, 18 are candidates for local councilor, two are candidates for district councilor, two are candidates for municipal councilor, thee are independent candidates, while 25 are on party lists. Furthermore, according to the data provided by a party, on their slate one person with disabilities competes for mayor, while 30 persons with disabilities contend for councilor. The Central Election Commission does not possess disaggregated data on the issue.
The persons with disabilities progressively become involved in monitoring the elections. The public association “Eternitate” of Obreja Veche village of Fălești district leads an election observation mission to determine how the disability dimension was treated in the districts of Fălești, Glodeni and Edineț. The mission consists of 15 persons with disabilities (ten women and five men; six form urban areas and nine form rural areas). Their effort was possible thanks to the support provided by East-Europe Foundation from Sweden’s resources.
The report was compiled in the framework of the project “Enhancing democracy in Moldova through inclusive and transparent elections” that is implemented by UNDP Moldova in partnership with INFONET Alliance, with the financial support of the British Embassy in Chisinau provided through the agency of the Good Governance Fund and of the people of America offered through USAID.
