General Right to Vote
Constitution
(2010)

• Section 38, subsection (2) states, “Every citizen has the right to free, fair and regular elections based on universal suffrage and the free expression of the will of the electors...”
• Section 38, subsection (3) states, “Every adult citizen has the right, without unreasonable restrictions – (a) to be registered as a voter; (b) to vote by secret ballot in any election or referendum; and (c) to be a candidate for public office, or office within a political party of which the citizen is a member and, if elected, to hold office.”

Specific Inclusion of People with Disabilities
Constitution
(2010)

• Section 54 is entitled “Persons with disabilities.”
• Section 54, subsection 92) states, “The state shall ensure the progressive implementation of the principle that at least five percent of the members of the public in elective and appointive bodies are persons with disabilities.”
• Section 82 states, “The electoral system shall comply with the following principles...(f) fair representation of persons with disabilities.”
• Section 97, subsection (1) states, “The National Assembly consists of...(c) twelve members nominated by parliamentary political parties according to their proportion of members of the National Assembly in accordance with Article 90, to represent special interests, including the youth, persons with disabilities and workers...”
• Section 98, subsection (1) states, “The Senate consists of...(d) two members, being one man and one woman, representing persons with disabilities...”
• Section 100 states, “Parliament shall enact legislation to promote the representation in Parliament of...(b) persons with disabilities.”
• Section 177, subsection (1) states, “A county assembly consists of...(c) the number of members of marginalized groups, including persons with disabilities...”
• Section 232, subsection (1), part (i) states, “affording adequate and equal opportunities for appointment, training and advancement, at all levels of the public service, of...(iii) persons with disabilities.”
• Section 260 defines disability as, “any physical, sensory, mental, psychological or other impairment, condition or illness that has, or is perceived by significant sectors of the community to have, a substantial or long-term effect on the individual’s ability to carry out ordinary day-to-day activities.”

Exclusion Based on Mental Disability
Constitution
(2010)

• Section 83, subsection (1) states, “A person qualifies for registration as a voter at elections or referenda if the person ...(b) is not declared to be of unsound mind...”
• Section 99, subsection (2) states, “A person is disqualified from being elected a member of Parliament if the person...(e) is of unsound mind.”
• Section 194, subsection (2) states, “A person is disqualified from being elected a member of a county assembly if the person...(d) is of unsound mind.”

Electoral Law
National Assembly and Presidential Elections Act
(last reviewed 2009)

• Section 7 states, “Where a person who has been adjudged or declared to be of unsound mind...and he is thereby disqualified from being registered as an elector, then, if it is open to him to appeal against the decision...that person shall not be thereby disqualified for being so registered until the expiration of thirty days after the date of the decision or such further period as the Minister in his discretion may, at the request of the person, direct in order to enable the person to appeal against the decision."

Exclusion Based on Physical Disability
Electoral Law
National Assembly and Presidential Elections Act
(last reviewed 2009)
PRESIDENTIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS REGULATIONS

• Second Schedule, section 2, subsection (1) states, “Every person desirous of standing as a candidate at a parliamentary election shall, unless exempted under subparagraph (2), before making the declaration required by regulation 15(2), apply to the Electoral Commission for a test as to his proficiency in the English and Swahili languages.”
• Second Schedule, section 4, subsection (1) states, "At the place and time appointed under paragraph 3 the language board concerned shall assemble and shall proceed to test persons presenting themselves before it as to whether or not they are able to speak and, unless incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause, to read English and Swahili languages well enough to take an active part in the proceedings of the National Assembly."
• Statutory declaration for purposes of nomination at a parliamentary election, states, “3. I am sufficiently proficient in my knowledge of the English language...4. I am sufficiently proficient in my knowledge of the Swahili language...”

Voter Assistance
Electoral Law
National Assembly and Presidential Elections Act
(last revised 2009)

• Section 23, subsection (1) states, “The presiding officer shall regulate the number of electors to be admitted to the polling station at the time, and shall exclude all other persons except – (d) persons necessarily assisting blind or incapacitated voters.”
• Section 26 states, “No person other than an election officer or police officer on duty shall, except with the authority of the presiding officer, have any communication whatsoever with an elector who is in, or in the immediate precincts of, a polling station for the purpose of voting; but this regulation shall not prevent the companion of a blind or incapacitated elector from communicating with that elector.”
• Section 44 states, “The Electoral Commission may make special provision for voting of patients in hospitals, persons admitted in sanatoria or homes for the aged and similar institutions, persons who lead nomadic life on account of vagaries of climate, physically disabled persons and expectant mothers.”
• Section 31
• On the application of an elector who declares that he is unable to read or write, or who is incapacitated by reason of blindness or other physical cause from voting in the manner prescribed in these Regulations, the presiding officer shall permit the elector to be assisted by a person of the elector’s own free choice.
• No person other than the person chosen by that elector shall enter the compartment whilst the elector is casting the vote.
• The person chosen by the elector is not required to be qualified to vote but is require to have reached the age of majority.
• The following shall apply with respect to a person who assists an elector under this regulation-
• The person shall, before assisting the elector, make an oath of secrecy before the presiding officer in the form specified by the Electoral Commission;
• The person is only required to make one oath of secrecy before he assists an elector; and
• If the person breaches his oath he shall be guilty of an offence and liable to the penalty specified in regulation 42.
• The person shall assist only one elector at that election.
• The presiding officer may make such inquiries as he may deem necessary in order to establish that the elector and his chosen assistant satisfy the provisions of this regulation.
• Where a presiding officer grants the request of an elector under this regulation, the presiding officer shall record in the copy register against the name of the elector the fact that the elector was assisted and the reason for the assistance.”

• Constitution - http://aceproject.org/ero-en/regions/africa/KE/the-constitution-of-kenya-2010/view
• The National Assembly and Presidential Elections Act - http://www.kenyalaw.org/Downloads/Acts/The_National_Assembly_and_Presidential_Elections_Act_Cap_7.pdf