IEC rejects suggestions that mentally impaired be allowed to vote
THE Independent Electoral Commission on Monday rejected suggestions that mentally impaired people be allowed to vote in next year’s general election.People with mental disabilities are legally excluded from participating in elections, and some civil society organisations have claimed this is an infringement of their constitutional rights.Parliament is urgently deliberating on amendments to the law as ordered by the Constitutional Court to allow South Africans abroad to vote in next year’s election.In submissions on Monday to Parliament’s home affairs committee on the Electoral Amendment Bill, the Ubuntu Centre raised concern about sections of the act it said discriminated against people with psychosocial disabilities and those who were detained under the Mental Health Care Act.Chief electoral officer Mosotho Moepya told the committee "many jurisdictions do not permit people with mental disabilities to register as voters due to concerns about (their) faculties for informed opinions. ...
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