Increasing the participation of citizens with disabilities to vote by improving legislation and access to polling stations

The project "Increasing the participation of citizens with disabilities to vote by improving legislation and access to polling stations", implemented by the Association of Election Officials in BiH (AEOBiH) in cooperation with the DPO of the Federation, the Coordinating Committee of Disabled Persons of the Republic of Serbian, a coalition of organizations of persons with disabled Canton Sarajevo, the Central election Commission (CEC BiH), and the Foundation Global Contact (FGK).

The overall objective is to create conditions for increasing the participation of citizens with disabilities in the electoral process through a detailed assessment of the voting procedures and practices for persons with disabilities and developing recommendations for amendments of laws and regulations, analysis of the accessibility of polling stations for people with disabilities and creating recommendations for their improvement ; improving regulations on voting of persons with disabilities and the criteria for selection of polling stations on the basis of the criteria of accessibility for persons with disabilities. The project is being implemented in the period April - November 2010 thanks to funds from the Centers for Civic Initiatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During the project, an analysis of the accessibility of 185 polling stations for people with disabilities in five municipalities in the country (Stolac, Trebinje, Fojnica, Zivinice and Mrkonjic Grad), based on which is written a report and recommendations designed to improve the accessibility of polling stations for people with disabilities. The recommendations were submitted to the Central Election Commission in BiH, after which the Central Electoral Commission is ruled by instruction of the municipal election commissions on compulsory access for persons with disabilities.

For more information you can visit the website AEOBiH www.aeobih.com, or contact Zvjezdana Dragovic, Executive Director of the e-mail zvjezdanad@aeobih.com.ba.