Home > 1.1.1 Conditions and exceptions > SERBIA - Joint opinion on the constitutional and legal framework governing the functioning of democratic institutions - Electoral law and electoral administration
 
 
 
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Paragraph 35
 

Restrictions on the right to vote due to psychosocial and intellectual disabilities raise human rights issues in relation to the principle of universal suffrage. Such restrictions may be in line with the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, based on Article 3 Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights. For that to be so, disenfranchisement must be possible only after individual judicial evaluation and according to a legal framework respecting the principle of proportionality. However, any restriction on the right to vote due to mental capacity is at odds with Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), according to the interpretation of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This convention is ratified by the Republic of Serbia without reservations. The Venice Commission and ODIHR, therefore, recommend that the restrictions on suffrage rights based on intellectual or psychosocial disabilities be reconsidered in line with international obligations.