Disabled to gain access to Armenia’s polling stations in 40 years, NGO rep. says

PanARMENIAN.Net - Discussion on provision of disabled people’s rights to participate in voting was held in Yerevan on April 10.

Albet Abgaryan, chairman of Harmony NGO said more disabled people must be involved in political parties and the National Assembly, since nobody will voice their problems better than they.

“65 out of 75 registered political parties do not mention the word “disabled” in their programs, while the remaining 10 rather associate a disabled person with the elderly or prisoners, but never with namely the disabled.

“Who is going to deal with our issues, if none of candidate parties heading for the parliament speaks about protecting the rights of the disabled?” head of Paros NGO Suren Ohanyan said during the discussion.

Ohanyan added that according to their estimates, the polling stations will become accessible for the disabled only 40 years later.