Visually impaired: We want to vote
05/05/2011 16:20
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The visually impaired people this year must vote under the company of someone else. The President of the Visually Impaired People Association,
prof. Sinan Tafaj, said that he has made several requests to the
Central Election Commission, without receiving any response from this
institution.
Voting accompanied by someone else is considered by the visually impaired community as discrimination, since it deprives them of voting in secrecy like every one else.
“The voting is secret because it is very personal, and voting accompanied by someone else is not the right solution. Voting accompanied is a solution that holds a kind of discrimination in its core. Special ballot papers eliminate this problem”, Tafaj said.
In 2005, the Association of the Visually Impaired People, in cooperation with OSCE, created and produced ballot papers that enabled 80% of the visually impaired people to participate in the voting process.
In 2007 they voted only in Tirana and Durrës through special equipment. In 2009 CEC cooperated for having these ballot papers done by a private company, which was unable to produce them properly, making all ballot papers invalid.
In 2011, this category of people will not be able to vote, at least not in secrecy. The association has addressed these complaint to the OSCE and appealed all institutions to take measures for not infringing the rights of this community.
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