By Fabian Anawo
The Campaign for Equal Voting Access for Persons with Disabilities EVAPWD, has given INEC the thumbs up for giving priority to the aged, nursing mothers and pregnant women as well as persons with disabilities during the presidential and National Assembly elections.
It made the commendation in it’s preliminary report on the election signed by its Chairman, Mr. David Anyaele.
The organisation which is one of the accredited bodies that monitored the election also observed that a significant number of Polling Units were accessible to persons with physical disabilities
It says that the accessibility of the Polling Units were due to their location along the roadside, open field, play grounds and that a good number of other Polling Units were placed in buildings with access for those on wheelchairs.
However, it observes that some polling units were not accessible to People with Disabilities as they were placed across gutters or in schools, public buildings with steps and high pavements.
It observes that the deployment of Braille guides for the blind, shade and magnifying glasses for albinos were invisible at the Polling Units visited, saying that they saw the items in only two Polling Units.
The group also observed that form EC40H that is used to document the number of voters with disabilities that voted at a particular Polling Unit across the Federation was scarce at the Polling Units.
It commends INEC and other election stakeholders for conducting the elections as planned and for the significant improvement on accessible polling units and security measures.