Paris (AFP)

The right to vote for people with mental disabilities has theoretically allowed since March 2019 to 300,000 new voters to go to vote, but a few months of the municipal implementation in practice remains delicate.

"Voting is the most accomplished form of citizenship but substantive work is still needed," said Anny Bourdaleix, host of Ancreai (Federation of regional centers for studies, actions and information, in favor people in vulnerable situations).

According to a national survey conducted between June and August 2019 among 1,300 people with intellectual or psychic disabilities, and presented in a conference in early October on the theme "facilitate voter turnout", almost 6 in 10 people said they had an electoral map but two out of 10 said they were not aware of this new right.

Prior to any voting process, some 3,000 people with mental disabilities joined the lists in the European elections in May 2019, despite having only a few weeks to do so.

However, according to the Ancreai most people who had bothered to register, were voting, bringing "the turnout rate to 80%". Some of these new voters "even held polling stations and participated in the counting".

Guylaine Layec, 34, who suffers from intellectual disability, went, accompanied by her mother, to register "in time for the elections" because, for her, "to vote is a citizen's duty," she explains. AFP.

Several initiatives were taken to continue this effort during the municipal elections in March. A guide "Voting and Disability" details the practical conditions of the vote and was put online by the Unapei (National Union of Associations of Parents, People with Intellectual Disabilities and their friends). The Association of Mayors of France assured AFP that sensitization of its members to this question was planned.

- "Hard to pick a candidate!" -

Other ideas, identified by the Ancreai, are implemented in the field: training workshops to vote the Republican rite, since the arrival at the polling station, the disposition of the ballots, the signature on the register, until the bulletin falling in the solemn ballot box "voted".

But voting also involves choosing your candidate. The historian Maurice Agulhon, a specialist in universal suffrage, recalled in the context of the reflection that led to the passing of the law, that "the learning of the Republic" did not precede the right to vote, "it is the fruit".

"To have the right to vote and to use it is to learn how to use it, so to learn to discuss, to debate public affairs, to make politics finally," he explained.

A teacher at the Esat (Establishment and help desk by work) of the Cherry trees in Paris, Sylviane Guérin ensures that "the path to citizenship will be long". "For some of the people I take care of, it will take time to form a political opinion," she admits.

"It's hard to choose a candidate! Sometimes we argue between us: why did not you vote for him? What do you find him to that one?", Says Gaëtan Gombert, 35, who had participated in the counting in the commune of Bailleul (North).

New for preparing municipal elections: a free downloadable application in November will concretely describe the voting process. For its developer Thierry Dimbour, "it will not be a question of winning or losing but of understanding what this right entails and learning how to vote".

In early October, Sophie Cluzel, Secretary of State for Persons with Disabilities, pledged to call on all candidates of political parties to have their professions of faith written in FALC, French easy to read and understand. "A clarification of programs that, thanks to people with disabilities, will benefit all our fellow citizens," she said.

The greater the political participation of people with intellectual disabilities, the closer they will be to "the next step" according to her: "the eligibility of people with disabilities".

© 2019 AFP