title: Mental illness and the right to vote: a review of legislation across the world.
abstract: The right to vote is an important right signifying freedom of thought as well as full citizenship in any setting. Right to vote is enshrined and protected by international human rights treaties. The right of 'everyone' to take part in the political process and elections is based on universal and equal suffrage. Although these International Conventions have been ratified by the large majority of United Nations Member States, their application across the globe is by no means universal. This study sets out to examine the domestic laws of UN Member States in order to explore whether individuals with mental health problems have the right to vote in actuality and, thu,s can participate in political life. Through various searches, electoral laws and Constitutions of 193 Member States of the United Nations were studied. The authors were able to find legislation and/or Constitutional provisions in 167 of the 193 Member States. Twenty-one countries (11%) only placed no restrictions on the right to vote by persons with mental health problems. Over one third of the countries (36%) deny all persons with any mental health problems a right to vote without any qualifier. Some of these discriminatory attitudes are reflected in the multiplicity of terms used to describe persons with mental health problems. Another 21 countries (11%) denied the right to vote to detained persons; of these, nine Member States specifically denied the right to vote to persons who were detained under the mental health law, while the remainder denied the right to vote to all those who were interdicted or judicially interdicted. It would appear that in many countries the denial of voting rights is attributed to a lack of ability to consent by the individuals with mental illness. Further exploration of explanation is required to understand these variations, which exist in spite of international treaties.
authors: a World Psychiatric Association , Geneva , Switzerland ;
authors: Dinesh
authors: D
authors: Bhugra
authors: b Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy , Indian Law Society , Pune , India ;
authors: Soumitra
authors: S
authors: Pathare
authors: b Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy , Indian Law Society , Pune , India ;
authors: Chetna
authors: C
authors: Gosavi
authors: c Department of Mental Health , ASUR , Regione Marche , Italy ;|d Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine , University of Foggia , Foggia , Italy ;
authors: Antonio
authors: A
authors: Ventriglio
authors: e Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Neuroscience Department , National University of Asuncion , San Lorenzo , Paraguay ;
authors: Julio
authors: J
authors: Torales
authors: f Department of Neuroscience , Medical School, Fundação do ABC , Santo André , Brazil ;
authors: João
authors: J
authors: Castaldelli-Maia
authors: g Quirino Memorial Medical Centre, Department of Health , Quizon City , Philippines ;
authors: Edgardo Juan L
authors: EJ
authors: Tolentino
authors: h Department of Psychiatry , Kowloon Hospital , Hong Kong, PR China.
authors: Roger
authors: R
authors: Ng
mesh_terms: D002961:Civil Rights / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014480:United Nations / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*
keywords: Capacity to consent; democracy; mental illness; right to vote