Psychiatric patients eligible to vote could not take part in elections

The persons receiving psychiatric treatment in the hospital who have the right and are able to vote could not cast their ballots on June 5. According to the Moldova Institute for Human Rights (IDOM), only 286 of the 3,582 such persons marked their ballots, Info-Prim Neo reports. “No polling places were set up for psychiatric patients on the territory of psychiatric institutions. The psychiatric hospital in Codru town of Chisinau municipality was an exception,” monitoring project coordinator Stela Livadaru told a news conference. Olga Straton, assistant for the IDOM project, said that among the most serious violations identified were the non-inclusion of these persons in the electoral rolls, restriction of the voting rights on the pretext that these persons cannot exercise the right to vote, the influence exerted by the institution’s personnel on the voters, and non-insuring of secret voting. The IDOM mobilized 18 national observers accredited by the Central Election Commission to monitor the voting process in nine psychiatric hospitals, said Olga Straton. The project to monitor the observance of the voting rights in psychiatric institutions in Moldova is a continuation of the pilot project implemented in the April 5, 2009 parliamentary elections. The project is financially supported by East Europe Foundation from the resources provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and the Foreign Ministry of Denmark. A number of 4,142 persons are currently receiving treatment in psychiatric hospitals in Moldova. Of them, 3,582 are able to vote.