Local Ivorian casting her vote with an official helping her. Photo credit - Getty Images

INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY: REVIEW OF EFFORTS TO ENSURE ACCESSIBILITY FOR ALL VOTERS

Introduction 

Inclusion is a social project aimed at enabling each citizen to participate fully in the life of the nation by feeling perfectly integrated and without experiencing their belonging to any minority. Côte d’Ivoire, like other countries in the world, continues to make efforts to promote accessibility for all voters, and to guarantee the involvement of all in the political life of the country. In the rest of the article, we will discuss and examine some of the efforts made by Côte d’Ivoire in the process of inclusive democracy.

 

Efforts to Ensure Accessibility for All Voters 

The Ivorian State has made many efforts to ensure that every citizen, particularly people with disabilities and the elderly, can feel involved in the electoral process. We can cite, among others:

– Voting under guardianship: for the disabled, authorization to vote while accompanied was obtained. According to article 37 in paragraphs 6 and 7 of the new electoral code of 2020, they were allowed to carry out all the voting operations with a person of their choice who does not suffer from the same physical disability as them.

-The use of sign language interpreters: the Independent Electoral Commission used sign language interpreters during the proclamation of the results of the 2020 presidential election and certain campaigns that it organizes.

 

Review of Said Efforts 

While these efforts are appreciable and demonstrate some progress in terms of accessibility for people with disabilities during elections, it must be said that they have some shortcomings. About voting under guardianship, although it facilitates the electoral process for the blind, it does not guarantee the confidentiality of the vote. The attendant may not only know the candidate chosen by the voter, but he may also deliberately make the blind person vote for a candidate that he has not previously chosen. Regarding the use of sign language interpreters, their usefulness is also necessary during the election campaigns initiated by the various candidates. Unfortunately, in most cases, they are not there. This prevents the deaf or hard of hearing from having direct access to the messages conveyed by the candidates.

 

Conclusion 

Many measures to ensure accessibility for all voters have been taken, demonstrating the State’s willingness to facilitate the fulfillment of the rights of all citizens. However, it is important to continue improving the system, for example, by allowing people with motor disabilities to vote in adapted places (ground floor rather than upstairs); providing blind people with Braille paper ballots so that they can vote alone; promoting the use of sign language during election campaigns.

Sizongui Latifate Tenin Coulibaly

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