Abstract:
The spirit of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B.E. 2560 (2017) aims at encouraging people to participate in politics, especially in an election which is fundamental to the exercise of peoples rights to vote for their representatives to exercise sovereignty power on behalf of people in democratic governance. Under the fundamental principles of elections, in the case where people with visual disabilities still experience any obstacles in casting their votes for Members of the House of Representatives, states must establish legal measures to eliminate the obstacles in order to assist or facilitate these people to exercise their voting rights. Such legal measures must also be subject to the principles of direct suffrage and secret ballot. The study found that even though there are legal measures to assist or facilitate people with disabilities in casting votes prescribed in section 92 paragraph 1 of the Organic Act on the Election of Members of the House of Representatives, B.E. 2561 (2018), they have yet to efficiently eliminate obstacles in casting votes faced by people with visual disabilities. Consequently, some of the visually disabled are unable to exercise their voting rights. Furthermore, neither details nor procedures exist to ensure that the principles of direct suffrage and secret ballot are genuinely observed when voters with visual disabilities are assisted in marking a ballot card. Therefore, the exercise of voting rights by people with visual disabilities may conflict with the equality, non-discrimination, and elementary principles of elections. Based on the aforementioned problems, the author therefore proposes the guidelines, which are in accordance with the principles of direct suffrage and secret ballot, to determine legal measures in order to assist or facilitate people with visual disabilities in exercising their voting rights. These guidelines require the state to amend its legal measures to provide information on elections in a format accessible to the visually disabled to establish measures enabling people with visual disabilities to cast votes by themselves to set up measures facilitating easy access to a polling station. Also, the state is required to prescribe rules and approaches under section 92 paragraph 1 of the Organic Act on the Election of Members of the House of Representatives, B.E. 2561 (2018) in a decisive manner to ensure that the person assisting the voters with visual disabilities in casting votes will mark a ballot card in accordance with the determination of the voters and that the person will protect the secrecy of the ballot for the voters. This will result in the casting votes by people with visual disabilities genuinely according with the principles of direct suffrage and secret ballot.