ZAGREB, January 2, 2020 - The GONG election monitoring NGO on Thursday called on the government to enable elderly and ill citizens to exercise their electoral right by amending the legislation whereby polling booths can be set up in all hospitals and retirement homes as well as organising the possibility of voting from home for disabled citizens.
"We call on the government to urgently resolve the problem of discrimination against voters who are not able to access polling stations and to better regulate voting at special polling stations, by introducing regulations regarding various ways of facilitating the voting process as a legal obligation," GONG said in a press release.
The NGO warned that the elderly and ill must not be treated as second-class citizens.
Several dozen elderly, ill, and disabled voters sent complaints to GONG saying that they could not exercise their right to vote in the first round of the presidential election.
Under the Constitution voters, who happen to be at hospitals treatment on the day of an election, have general and equal voting rights. However, as the law does not foresee voting in hospitals those citizens have been deprived of their constitutional right to vote, GONG warned.
The NGO underlines that only a portion of citizens living in retirement homes have been enabled to vote in elections.
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