Political leaders and administrative leaders have not given due consideration to the disabled community in this country, who are 15-20% of the population, stated the Chairman of the Elections Commission.

Chairman of the Elections Commission Mahinda Deshapriya mentioned this addressing the ‘Disability Action Forum 2019’ held parallel to the International Day of Disabled Persons, yesterday (03).

According to the Chairman, the Election Commission considered persons who are unable to walk due to age or illness as disabled persons.

“This tips the percentage of disabled persons in Sri Lanka over 20%. It is the responsibility of the Elections Commission to make sure that no one is left behind in the election process”, he added.

Deshapriya stated that facilitating disabled persons to use public transports, access public offices or even go see a match should not be just considered on the disabled persons day.

The Chairman stated that disabled persons are allowed to bring another person to assist them with the voting or bring up the vehicle up to the polling station. A disability is not a barrier to vote, he added.

However, in Sri Lanka, only 2 persons have served the legislature as a representative at the parliament – one deceased as of now and the other currently serving, the Chairman pointed out.

“We have not seen a disabled person at the high ranks of any political party’

In a country where there is an indifference towards female representation in the legislature, would disabled persons be allowed to reach those ranks, questions Deshapriya.

“There is only 5-6% female representation in the parliament of a country which has an electoral register with 52% female voters.”

According to the Chairman, there is only 1 disabled person among the 225 legislators.

“Getting civil organizations representing disabled persons to meet one of the top leaders of the country was unsuccessful, despite my intervention.

I have a meeting with the political parties of the country. I promise that I will bring up these points we discussed at the Disability Action Forum at the meeting. And propose that all political parties should work to pay more attention to these points.”