The Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) of Bandung Regency invites persons with disabilities to participate in supervising the Regional Elections (Pilkada) of Bandung Regency. Despite their limitations, persons with disabilities have the same rights and obligations.
“This activity is a follow-up in order to invite persons with disabilities to be aware of their rights and obligations as voters,” said the Coordinator of the Supervision and Inter-institutional Relations Division of Bawaslu, Bandung Regency, Hedi, Monday (26/10/2020).
According to Hedi, the socialization is expected to provide understanding to them regarding their rights and obligations in Pilkada this year. One of the rights they get is to be registered as a Permanent Voter (DPT) or not.
“Among other things, they can carry out participatory monitoring so that all people in the regional elections obey the regulations, including us. They also encourage them to check whether they have registered as voters or not. They are also expected to actively report suspected violations on the field,” said Hedi.
In addition, those rights should be obtained by persons with disabilities. For instance, whether the polling stations are disability friendly or not.
He said that currently the number of voters who have disabilities is around 2,500 people. “We focus up to the detail cases, for example, polling stations are not suitable and not disability-friendly, there are no templates or ballot papers that can be used by persons with disabilities. We together ensure that people with disabilities can participate actively in the elections, ” Hedi said.