General Right to Vote
Constitution
(1907, last amended 2008)

• Article 7, section 6 states, “A Bhutanese citizen shall have the right to vote.”
• Article 23, section 1 states, “Under this Consitution, the general will of the people shall be the basis of government and it shall be expressed through periodic elections.”

Specific Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities
Constitution
(1907, last amended 2008)

• Article 9, section 22 states, “The State shall endeavor to provide security in the event of sickness and disability or lack of adequate means of livelihood for reasons beyond one’s control.”

Exclusion Based on Intellectual Disability
Electoral Law
Election Act of the Kingdom of Bhutan
(2008)

• Section 102 states, “A person shall be disqualified for registration in the Electoral Roll of a constituency, if such a person is...(b) of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent Court.”

Exclusion Based on Physical Disability
Constitution
(1907, last amended 2008)

• Article 6, section 3 states, “A person who applies for citizenship by naturalization shall...(c) Be able to speak and write Dzongkha.”

Voter Assistance
Electoral Law
Election Act of the Kingdom of Bhutan
(2008)

• Section 323 states, “Election Officer shall provide all necessary assistance to the physical challenged, such as the blind, physically handicapped, illiterate, or those living in remote areas to enable them to exercise their right to vote effectively.”
• Section 356 states, “The Presiding Officer shall direct the number of voters to be admitted at any one time inside the polling station, and exclude there-from all persons other than...(c) A person accompanying a blind or infirm voter who cannot move without help.”
• Section 358 states, “The Presiding Officer shall permit a physically challenged voter to take with him/her a companion to the voting compartment for recording the vote on the ballot paper or on the voting machine, if he/she is satisfied that owing to his/her physical infirmity, a voter is unable to recognize the symbols on the ballot paper or to make a mark thereon or to record his/her vote in the voting machine, without assistance. Provided that no person shall be permitted to act as the companion of more than one voter at any polling station for a particular election.”
• Seciton 359 states, “Any person before he/she is permitted to act as the companion shall be required to declare that he/she is not elss than eighteen years of age, he/she will keep the vote recorded by him/her on behalf of the voter a secret and he/she has not already acted as the companion of any other voter at any polling station for a particular election.s”
• Section 360 states, “The Presiding Officer shall keep the record of the voters and their companion in a form prescribed for this purpose.”

• Constitution - http://www.constitution.bt/TsaThrim%20Eng%20(A5).pdf
• 2008 Amendments - http://www.constitution.bt/html/constitution/Parliamentary%20Entitlements%20Act[4th%20April%202007].pdf
• Electoral Law - http://www.nationalcouncil.bt/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Elec_Eng_08.pdf