European elections: a call for accessibility

More is needed for visually impaired voters—and candidates—to exercise their political rights.

A political cycle ends in the European Union; a new one starts in less than two months. And with it, new opportunities to tackle daily obstacles for European citizens will come. On the occasion of these European Parliament elections, it is essential to remind political institutions and parties across the EU of the barriers blind and partially sighted people still face in the context of electoral processes, and how these could be removed.

Take Lithuania, my country. Since the 2019 European elections, there has been quite a lot of awareness-raising in line with the principles in article 29 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), on participation in political and public life.

Authorities and political parties collaborate with blindness and partial-sight organisations to work on the accessibility of elections. As a result, we can find political parties’ programmes and ballot papers available in Braille. Furthermore, the Central Election Commission has an accessible website, adapted to the needs of people with visual impairment, and adaptation of polling stations is carried out alongside representatives of the Lithuanian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted.

In spite of significant improvements over the years, however, there remain obstacles to independent voting for visually impaired people in practice. Not all polling stations are fully accommodating, due to lack of training of the staff of electoral authorities, and shortages of ballots occur from time to time. Only a few blind and partially sighted persons have meanwhile been elected to councils or the parliament, while nobody with visual impairment has ever contested a European election.

Outstanding issues

The Lithuanian case can illuminate outstanding issues in the implementation of article 29 of the UNCRPD, which entitles people with disabilities to political participation on an equal basis with others. According to the European Economic and Social Committee, 400,000 voters with disabilities across the union were deprived of their right to vote in the 2019 European elections. During a panel discussion on the 2023 European Day of Persons with Disabilities, Armin Rabitsch, of Election Watch EU, highlighted that only 13 EU member states upheld without exemptions the right of people with disabilities to vote.

Running for office is also a path full of challenges for politicians with disabilities. Moderating the Brussels panel last November, Alejandro Moledo of the European Disability Forum underlined that of the 705 members of the European Parliament less than 5 per cent had a disability. And, as indicated in EDF’s sixth Human Rights Report on Political Participation in 2022, there were still limitations in 19 EU countries on their ability to stand for election. This is a major obstacle to a more inclusive and equal society.

To spotlight all these obstacles, the previous, Spanish, presidency of the Council of the EU adopted a declaration in November asking member states to undertake measures to make electoral processes more inclusive for persons with disabilities. The following month, the European Commission published a guide on good electoral practices for the political participation of voters with disabilities.

Not all EU institutions are however moving in that direction: for instance, the council has still not responded to a resolution from the parliament calling for reform of the EU electoral law, which includes elements relating to the accessibility of elections. This is even more surprising as many of the countries represented in the council are signatories to the declaration under the Spanish presidency.

Ensuring accessibility

Coming back to Lithuania, how could it ensure accessibility and inclusion for people with visual impairment as voters? Many solutions could be adopted, such as the use of Braille and large print in ballots. Technological tools such as QR codes or online voting could also be deployed, on condition that those be designed in an accessible way.

Of course, we must not forget the importance of training staff to make sure all these measures are properly implemented. And not unrelated is the need to adapt facilities and working environments for visually impaired politicians, so that they can just as readily run for office.

This June, a new European Parliament will be elected. The blindness and partial-sight community calls on authorities and political parties to make use of this moment to help us fully enjoy our right to take part in political and public life, on an equal basis with others.