The provision of braille templates during the general elections 2014 is a must."Bandung (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian General Elections Commission (KPU) will be sued by several associations for the blind grouped under "Forum of Contesting Blind" over the absence of braille templates for blind voters in the legislative elections 2014.
"We will fight the injustice, what the KPU has done against blind voters. We will file a lawsuit against the KPUs decision of not providing braille templates for us," Suhendar, the forums chairman, said here on Tuesday.
The lawsuit will be filed in the Constitution Court or the State Administrative Court (PTUN).
A decision to provide escorts for blind voters at polling stations is a denial of their right to vote in privacy, secrecy and directly, he said.
It also violated the principles of independence and equality for people with disabilities, he added.
According to him, there is an indication that certain parties want to direct blind voters when casting the ballots, by providing someone to accompany them.
"The provision of braille templates during the general elections 2014 is a must," he noted.
He said political parties had failed to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities in the general elections this year.
Indonesia is going to hold parliamentary elections on April 9 and presidential election on July 9 this year.
KPU has decided not to provide braille templates to be placed over ballot papers for the election of House of Representatives (DPR) and Provincial Legislative Council (DPRD) members.
The braille templates will only be available for the presidential and Regional Representative Council (DPD) elections.
KPU commissioner Arief Budiman previously said it was not possible for the commission to provide braille templates for the election of House of Representatives (DPR) and Provincial Legislative Council (DPRD) members.
He attributed this deficiency to technical reasons as the font size on the ballots for the DPR and DPRD elections were too small for braille, the Jakarta Post reported.
(Uu.F001/INE/KR-BSR/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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