recognises the right of persons with disabilities to benefit from measures that protect their independence, social and professional integration, and participation in community life.35 Following the ratification of the CRPD by the EU and the majority of its Member States, their electoral legislation must comply with its provisions. Article 29 thereof sets out the framework for persons with disabilities’ participation in political and public life and stipulates that state parties shall ‘guarantee to persons with disabilities political rights and the opportunity to enjoy them on equal basis with others’.36 Article 29 of the CRPD imposes on state parties both negative obligations, such as the obligation not to place legal limits on the right to vote, and positive obligations, including the duty to ensure reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities.37 When read in conjunction with the afore-discussed provisions, there is apparently ‘a solid legal backbone informing public authorities at EU as well at national level how the right to political participation of persons with disabilities should be guaranteed in municipal and European Parliament elections’.38 II.
Progress in lifting administrative and legal barriers in political participation for persons with disabilities.
The EU has continually acknowledged and sought to introduce a number of instruments fostering the realisation of political participation of persons with disabilities, The efficacy of these instruments and associated policies in practice ought to be considered, in guaranteeing the voting rights of persons with disabilities in the EU. Practices in this field are highly varied across Member States. Ireland will be illustratively considered in comparison to Italy and Denmark to demonstrate the varied progress that has been made in this field. A. Ireland
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Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union [2012] C 326/02. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 37 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, ‘The right to political participation of persons with disabilities’ (FRA, 2014) <https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2014-political-participation-personsdisabilities-summary-0_en.pdf> accessed 2 January 2021. 38 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, ‘The right to political participation of persons with disabilities’ (FRA, 2014) <https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2014-political-participation-personsdisabilities-summary-0_en.pdf> accessed 2 January 2021. 36
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