Can people with mental disabilities in Spain vote?

Some questions related to the elections generate doubts and that is when questions arise about the elections that we do not always know how to answer. Thus, mentally disabled people or their families may question the possibility of voting for this group and, sometimes, the answer is not entirely clear. That is why in this article we want to answer the question: can people with mental disabilities in Spain vote ?

Who can vote in Spain?

The Spanish Constitution, the highest law of the Spanish State, decrees that all persons of legal age have the right to vote, even those who can not read or write. Even so, there are some exceptions included in article 2 of the Organic Law of the General Electoral System (LOREG) which are:

people convicted by sentence to suspension of vote
interned in a psychiatric hospital while they are in said center
declared incapable through a final judicial sentence.

Thus, there is no automatic exclusion of people with disabilities when exercising their right to vote in Spain, but it must be a judge who declares expressly through a ruling that a person is not qualified to vote.

However, it should be noted that many times when the family or your guardians of the person request partial disability -especially to protect them from fraud and safeguard their assets-, by default an order is included that requests to communicate said disability judgment to the offices of the electoral census that deprives the person in question who suffers from a mental disability of the right to vote.

How is the right to vote recovered?

This situation contradicts the United Nations Convention on Disability that was ratified in Spain in 2008, which recognizes the rights of disabled people and urges the Government to modify the current legislation so that it becomes a reality.

Thus, there are many people (about 80, 000 were counted in 2013) with some mental disability that in Spain have seen their rights diminished because of the sentences that "by default" are accompanied by an order that prevents them from voting. It is then when this group is forced to appeal the sentence in order to recover the right to vote and to participate in elections.

In this way, a review of the court ruling should be requested if it includes the aforementioned tagline that incapacitates the person to vote by default and without proof that the person is not fully empowered to exercise the right to vote. This procedure can be done by the person who has been affected, as well as their guardians or close relatives and will be the court of the population where the place resides to go.

At the same time, it should be noted that associations such as the Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities are actively fighting to claim and recover the right to vote of this group.

More information about the elections in Spain

Now that we have clarified the doubt about whether the mentally handicapped can vote in Spain, we also want to explain other questions about voting in the Spanish State so that you do not have any doubts: