1. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ‘INCLUSION OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES IN ELECTORAL PROCESS’
Session II: Efficiency and efficacy of the existing facilitation to PwDs for electoral participation
Antonio Spinelli
Head of Mission, International IDEA South Asia

2. Expanding electoral inclusion to all Persons with Disabilities
Most efforts supporting electoral inclusion, participation and access of PwDs focus on barriers relating to physical illnesses and disabilities of voters
Electoral exclusion faced by voters affected by mental illnesses needs greater attention
Electoral inclusion of voters with mental illnesses does not receive equal levels of recognition and support to those provided to physically disabled voters

3. Expanding electoral inclusion to all Persons with Disabilities
THE CASE OF COUNTRY “X”
Provisions were considered to disqualify those voters who, on election day, were considered to be “clearly and publicly known as mentally ill” even if they had not been “declared as mentally ill by a judicial body”

4. Expanding electoral inclusion to all Persons with Disabilities
Why do mentally disabled voters have to be discriminated in the first place?
Why should the vote of a mentally disabled person count less than that of a “mentally-abled” citizen?

5. Expanding electoral inclusion to all Persons with Disabilities
3 broad categories/levels of severity:
mental disabilities
cognitive and intellectual disabilities
mental illnesses and psychiatric disabilities
Not all mental illnesses necessarily impair the ability of a person to understand political issues, or make reasonable decisions and choices, when voting

6. Expanding electoral inclusion to all Persons with Disabilities
Electoral frameworks of most countries still lay down normative and procedural barriers limiting the inclusion and equal participation of their mentally disabled citizens in electoral processes
Out of 63 democratic countries, only 4 countries place no restrictions at the national level on the right to vote for persons affected by mental disabilities

7. Expanding electoral inclusion to all Persons with Disabilities
Justification: Voters with mental disabilities are (or may be) incapable of understanding the electoral process, its mechanisms and the political issues at a stake well enough to cast an informed vote
Justification: Voters with mental disabilities are (or may be) particularly vulnerable, when voting, to undue influence by unscrupulous individuals

8. Expanding electoral inclusion to all Persons with Disabilities
The “harm” to the legitimacy of an election made by the presumably non-informed vote of reduced numbers of mentally disabled voters is minimal
The more serious the mental illness is, the less are the chances that a mentally disabled voter would be interested (or even be able) to vote and appear at a polling station

9. Expanding electoral inclusion to all Persons with Disabilities
Shouldn't instead there be barriers on grounds of mental infirmity for those who want to be elected?

10. THANK YOU