People with disabilities set to be more visible in general elections

As the general elections approach, people with disabilities in Turkey are going to be able to actively participate both by having access to voting as well as by appealing to voters in bids to win seats in the new Parliament.

The disabled have faced many challenges and hardships during past elections, such as struggling to gain entry to polling stations without wheelchair access or polling booths set up on levels above the ground floor of schools and other buildings. It was commonplace in past elections to see media coverage of people with disabilities being carried on the backs of their relatives because they were determined to exercise their right to vote. The outcry of people with disabilities about such inconveniences often fell on deaf ears when it came to authorities responsible for rectifying the issue. Disabled groups had approached the Supreme Election Board (YSK) on the issue on several occasions in the past in vain.

Last September, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Lokman Ayva, currently the only deputy with a disability in the Turkish Parliament, gave assurances to the public that he would take the issue to the Constitutional Court. The outcome of the referendum, which was approved by a majority of voters in September 2010, has improved the human rights situation for people with disabilities in Turkey along with other vulnerable segments of society. The YSK, which is mainly in charge of accommodating the right of Turkish citizens to vote and had previously ignored calls from the disabled, finally decided to make a move on the issue after the referendum.

The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Tomas Hammerberg, in a recent statement in Strasbourg, stated that persons with disabilities must not be denied the right to vote, referring to the UN’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was adopted in 2006. In order for the convention to be implemented, Hammerberg said, a good start would be by ensuring that persons with disabilities are able to effectively participate in political and public life on an equal basis with others, including exercising their right to vote and be elected.

The statement further suggested that the role of society comes to the fore by offering assistance to make it possible for disabled individuals to exercise their human rights, including taking part in political life. “The convention places an obligation on governments to ensure that such assistance is provided if needed, including exercising the right to vote. There is a huge difference between this approach and just depriving someone of their rights,” Hammerberg said.

Recent developments in Turkey in this area seem to have fallen in line with the commissioner’s latest statement on the issue. The YSK’s most recent decision on the improvement of conditions at polling stations to accommodate the disabled so that they can vote without too many problems is a major yet overdue step towards achieving such a goal.

Apart from the physical challenges that limited their ability to vote, people with disabilities also are not adequately represented in Parliament. In Turkey there are approximately 8 million disabled, and around 4 million of them are eligible to vote. According to data released by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) people with disabilities account for around 12 percent of the general population. Given such numbers it is clear that the disabled are not represented in Parliament proportionally.

The general elections in June will be a milestone in the number of people with disabilities who want to become members of parliament. Prospective candidates with disabilities who have applied to the governing AK Party for the upcoming elections have set a record, with 267 applications. Moreover, according to a special circular issued by party chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, these applicants are exempt from the TL 3,000 application fee that is required from prospective candidates.


(2011-4-3/todayszaman)