Disabled Unhappy With Uzbek Poll Arrangements

As the December 27 parliamentary election approaches, disabled people in Uzbekistan say they will face numerous disadvantages in getting to the lls.



The law guarantees equal voting rights and access for all, but as one local observer pointed out, even getting into some polling stations could be a problem.



“Polling stations are located in buildings that don’t have wheelchair ramps or lifts,” he said



Nearly ten per cent of Uzbekistan’s population have a disability.



Jorakhon Khidoyatova, 55, can get around in her wheelchair only if her children are there to push it, and cannot remember the last time she voted, although she would very much like to.



The national election authorities have promised to send representatives round to disabled people’s homes so they can vote, but as one local journalist put it, there is some scepticism about this pledge.



“Central Election Commission head Mirzo-Ulughbek Abdusalomov said at a press conference that the district and ward commissions are aware of every single [disabled] voter, but the same assertions were made ahead of the last election, and quite a lot of disabled people were left outside the process,” said the journalist.



Tashkent resident Oybek Isakov said that at the last election, the presidential polls held at the end of 2007, he made it to vote under his own steam. “I’m still young and I can get about on crutches, but if I start getting worse I don’t think I’ll make it,” he said.



Human rights activists say the authorities should be doing more to make it possible for disabled people to vote, including using the e-voting systems introduced in other countries.



But as one commentator pointed out, few disabled people in the capital Tashkent, let alone outlying regions of Uzbekistan, own a computer or have internet access.



(NBCA is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)