Elections are in a couple of weeks and Lebanese with disabilities won’t be able to vote at the majority of polling stations because they are ill-equipped to accommodate citizens with disabilities. Tens of people were protesting in Beirut’s Riad el Solh square asking the government to fulfill their promises and guarantee an accessible voting process for people with disabilities, but in vain …
Lebanon signed the U.N.’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007, and later on ratified it into Law 220/2000 but has yet to enforce the law. This means that 15% of potential voters, according to the organizers, are deprived of their most basic rights, to vote.
It’s quite ironic how the authorities have put so much effort into attracting expats to register and vote, while they continue on marginalizing a large group of potential voters in their own country.