HARARE, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The disabled in Zimbabwe on Monday called on the national elections body to put in place mechanisms that enhance their participation in national elections.
Presenting a petition to the parliamentary portfolio committee on justice, a representative of the disabled said their participation in national electoral processes was limited due to disability unfriendly electoral systems.
Persons with disability were not represented in the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) nor were there enough legislators in parliament to represent them, said Tsarai Mungoni, the executive director of the National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped.
Mungoni said ZEC's voter education did not cater for the disabled, nor did they have voting material in Braille to cater for the blind.
The polling stations were also not user friendly to the disabled.
"For example, ZEC personnel do not have basic appreciation of the sign language. There is very little understanding of the issues that concern the disabled because we are not represented in ZEC.
"So we would want a situation where we are represented in the Commission, the directorate, secretariat, district and ward level so that we are included in the whole electoral cycle," Mungoni said.
He said the absence of disability friendly electoral systems was disenfranchising an estimated 2 million disabled people in the country.
Hate speech and political violence also scared away disabled voters, particularly women as they were more vulnerable, he said.
"We therefore urge ZEC to adopt best practices from other countries in the region where persons with disabilities fully exercise their right to vote without any form of discrimination," Mungoni said.
Zimbabwe will hold national elections mid this year and election campaigning by political parties has begun.