Report monitoring the participation of people with disabilities in Albanian elections

In May, there were elections in Albania. A group of people with disabilities and their families in Albania called "Help the life" wanted to know how people with disabilities take part in this elections. To do this, they got 20 people with disabilities and their family members to watch the elections. These people then came to elections to see if it was easy for people with disabilities to vote. After the elections, "Help the life" organisation did a report to tell everyone about what they found out.

Participating in the elections is a fundamental right in every democracy and people with disabilities should in no way be excluded from it. Active in protecting the rights of people with intellectual and physical disabilities, the Albanian National Association “Help the life” has recently conducted a research on the participation of people with disabilities in the local elections of 8 May 2011 and it has now presented its results in a report.

The Albanian National Association of people with disability and their parents, “Help the Life”, a member of Inclusion Europe, has recently launched a report on the participation of people with intellectual and physical disabilities in the local elections of 8 May 2011. The report is based on a research conducted in 4 regions of Albania: Korça, Elbasan, Lezha and Vaqarri Commune of Tirana city, with the help of a group of 20 (5 people in every city) people with disabilities and parents. These people were trained as local observers and accredited by the Central Election Commission. Their role is mainly aiming at monitoring the polling Centers in order to observe the level of equality and inclusiveness of the electoral process and raising public awareness of the right of all citizens to equally, directly and secretly participate in the voting process without any discrimination. 

One the main conclusions of the report is that “persons with disabilities and their families are very interested in taking part in the country’s democratic processes and in expressing their opinion through voting”. However, “governmental institutions in the elections of 8 May 2011 did not seem to pay the necessary attention to improve the standards and also to preserve what has been achieved up until now”. Moreover, a general conclusion of the research was that the Albanian legislation seems as if "it does not manage to fully ensure the right of people with disabilities to participate in the elections".

In these terms, our member in Albania provides the following recommendations, as they are underlined in the report:

• "To nrich the Electoral Code by accurate determination of the legal responsibilities for relevant structures, starting with making the lists for election for all the categories without exception, in order to realize the right to vote for people with disability.

• To amend Article 108 of the Electoral Code, in order to give the opportunity to the persons with intellectual disability to realise their right to vote: All actions to further legal improvements and inclusion of people with disability in the electoral process must be preceded immediately by the implementation of clear statistical process to all categories, but especially to those who do not vote directly and secretly. Establishing a data base, that specifies the type of disability and their geographical location.

• To facilitate the voting process for people with intellectual disability in order to ensure their right to vote.

• To realise in time guidelines for meeting the standards of accessibility of voting centre and tools in support of the Electoral Code.

• To continue pre-awareness campaigns for the category of people with disability and their families to understand the importance of voting in the democratization of the country, and therefore improve their lives.”

The report was prepared as part of the project: “The right to vote – the participation of persons with disabilities in elections”, which was carried out by the Albanian Association “Help the Life” with the support of the Foundation ABILIS – Finland. More information about the project is provided here.

Help the Life

The Albanian Association “Help the Life” was established in 1998 as an initiative of a group of parents of children and young people with intellectual and physical disabilities with the vision to build an inclusive society with equal opportunities for all. The organisation’s main objective is to protect the rights of people with intellectual and physical disabilities focusing on the field of social services for people with disabilities, as a fundamental right. For more information, you can visit the association’s website: www.helpthelife.org.