By Antoine Fobe

The European elections are around the corner and we – the European Blind Union (EBU) – encourage our followers to cast their vote, as difficult as it may continue to be, and that they do so bearing in mind the attention that candidates and parties give to inclusion in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Because visually impaired citizens need to make their expectations heard.

The European Blind Union (EBU) is the voice of blind and partially-sighted people in Europe and we work towards an accessible and inclusive society with equal opportunities for visually-impaired people to fully participate in all aspects of life. Political participation is, of course, an essential aspect, as it allows visually impaired citizens to promote disability-friendly policies and legislation through their vote and political action.

As the 2024 EP elections approach, the participation of persons with disabilities (PWDs) both as voters and as candidates is an important and timely topic.

According to the 2019 report of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), around 400,000 persons with disabilities (PWD) were deprived of the right to vote at the last European Parliament (EP) elections. Less than 5% of EP members have a disability.

For the upcoming elections, as a starting point in its Statement on EP elections, the EBU is again asking for a standard to be set on accessibility of the vote (voting procedures), of electoral information (election campaign facilities and materials, political debates, political party programmes and websites) and of post-election procedures (e.g. complaint mechanisms), as well as equality in the right to stand as a candidate.

We focus on EP elections because the European Union has competence only for the European elections as an element of EU citizenship and for ensuring equal rights for PWDs within the remit of EU competence. However, since it remains the competence of Member States to organise elections, best practices at EU level would automatically have a ‘spill-over’ effect on all other elections.

Unfortunately, it is too late to make EP elections exemplary this time round. Not due to lack of interest by the EP itself, on the contrary: in May 2022, it proposed a reform of EU electoral law, focusing namely on guaranteeing the right for PWDs to vote independently and in secret, the free choice of assistance, and the accessibility of postal voting and political campaigns. Sadly, the EU Council has so far failed to respond. 

For the next 5 years of EU legislature, EBU is asking the renewed EP to continue pressing the Council to adopt the proposed reform and bring about tangible progress in the 2029 elections. We can count on the support of the EESC which, in 2020, had already called for a formal EP legislative initiative to guarantee real rights for PWDs to vote in EP elections. We can also count on the support of the European Commission which, last December, published a “Guide of good electoral practices” and is now working on a compendium on e-voting practices and the use of ICT in elections, both addressing accessibility aspects.