General Right to
Vote
Constitution:
(Draft 1991)
• See section 47, subsection (2)
Exclusion Based
on Mental Disability
Constitution:
(Draft 1991)
• Section 57, subsection (3) states: "No person shall be qualified
to be registered as an elector in elections to the National Assembly who,
at the date of his application to be registered…(c) is, under any
law in force in Lesotho, adjudged or declared to be of unsound mind."
Exclusion Based
on Physical Disability
Constitution:
(Draft 1991)
• Section 59, subsection (2) states: "Subject to the provisions
of section 59 of this Constitution, a person shall be qualified to be
elected as a member of the National Assembly if, and shall not be so qualified
unless, at the date of his nomination for election, he…(c) is able
to speak, and, unless incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause,
to read and write either the Sesotho or English language well enough to
take an active part in the proceedings of the National Assembly."
Voter Assistance
by Other Citizens
Electoral Law:
(31 December 1997: National Assembly Election Order)
• Section 81 subsection (1) states: "On attending a polling
station for the purpose of voting at an election, an elector who claims
to be incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause from voting in
the manner prescribed in section 79 may request the presiding officer
for permission to vote with the assistance of a person who is accompanying
the elector."
• Section 81 subsection (2) continues: "If the presiding officer
is satisfied (a) that the person who is accompanying the elector is a
relative or friend of the elector; and (b) the elector is incapacitated
as referred to in subsection (1).
• Section 81 subsection (3) concludes: "If permission is granted
under this section, anything which is required by or under this Order
to be done to or by an elector with respect to voting at an election may
be done to or with the assistance of the person accompanying the elector,
but that person that shall mark the ballot paper issued to the elector
in accordance with the elector's wishes."
