Persons with Disabilities call for the Society to Participate into Elections
Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) call for the society to participate into elections – in this regard, the Coalition for Independent Living arranged a Public Solidarity Event in Rustaveli Ave., Tbilisi. The slogan of the event was “Independent Person – Free Choice”. PWDs participating in the event called for the society to participate in October 1st elections.
“Despite the challenges we face during moving in the environment, we are going to vote at election districts and call for each voter for civil activism!” – said Rati Ionatamishvili, one of the event organizers. The solidarity events were also arranged in 5 other cities of Georgia with the participation of 40 wheelchair users and up to 100 students and volunteers.
The Solidarity Event was organized within the frameworks of the project “Strengthening Ongoing Democratic and Election Processes with Participation of Persons with Disabilities”, which was supported by the International Fund for Election Systems (IFES) and the Central Election Commission (COC). According to Natia Ghvinjilia, representative of Coordination and Management Department of COC, at an initial stage of the project a study was conducted to reveal the needs of PWDs. As a result of the study the ramps were constructed and accessible booths for wheelchair users were placed at 93 election districts throughout Georgia.