Global Initiative to Enfranchise People with Disabilities: Tonga - www.electionaccess.org Text Only Version
Back to Asia  
  Best Practices: IFES and other groups have implemented innovative practices around the world.
Laws and Regulations:  A country-by-country analysis of election laws, constitutions and regulations, and how these affect citizens with disabilities.     Publications  
   
   

Tonga

• Electoral law unavailable for review

General Right to Vote
Constitution:
(updated, 1990)
• Section 64 states: "Every Tongan subject of twenty-one years of age or more…being a male or female can read and write and is not insane or imbecile and is not disabled by the twenty-third clause shall be entitled to vote in an election for representatives of the people to the Legislative Assembly."

Exclusion Based on Mental Disability
Constitution:
(updated, 1990)
• Section 35 states: "No person shall succeed to the Crown of Tonga who has been found guilty of a felony or who is insane or imbecile."
• Section 63, subsection (1) states, "No person shall succeed to the position of a noble who is insane or imbecile or who is disabled by the twenty-third clause."
• Section 64 states: "Every Tongan subject of twenty-one years of age or more…being a male or female can read and write and is not insane or imbecile and is not disabled by the twenty-third clause shall be entitled to vote in an election for representatives of the people to the Legislative Assembly."

Exclusion Based on Physical Disability
Constitution:
(updated, 1990)
• Section 64 states: "Every Tongan subject of twenty-one years of age or more…being a male or female can read and write and is not insane or imbecile and is not disabled by the twenty-third clause shall be entitled to vote in an election for representatives of the people to the Legislative Assembly."


 
  Laws and Regulations:  A country-by-country analysis of election laws, constitutions and regulations, and how these affect citizens with disabilities.
  Rights and Standards:  IFES and other groups have drafted global standards on the electoral rights of citizens with disabilities.
  Best Practices: IFES and other groups have implemented innovative practices around the world.
  Publications
 
  Contacts and Links