Wards demand right to vote / Adult guardianship system's denial of privilege incites legal battles

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Is it unconstitutional to take away the voting rights of adults who are placed under guardianship due to a disability or dementia?
The Public Offices Election Law stipulates that when an adult is placed under guardianship, he or she loses the right to vote. The first judicial ruling on this regulation will be handed down Thursday at the Tokyo District Court.
Is it legal for the adult guardianship system, which is supposed to protect the rights of the handicapped, to deprive the individuals subject to the system of their voting rights? Lawsuits similar to Thursday's case are currently under way at three other district courts.
"I want to vote again with my father and mother," said 50-year-old Takumi Nagoya from Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Jan. 24. She clearly voiced her opinion in the No. 103 courtroom at the Tokyo District Court when presiding Judge Makoto Jyozuka asked her to speak at the close of a 1-1/2-year-long lawsuit.
According to her father, Seikichi, 81, although Takumi suffers from Down syndrome and has a moderate intellectual impairment, she can read simple ,and has a job labeling sundry goods. Since turning 20, she has always read official election newsletters and had gone to vote. When an official at the voting station thanked her for taking the trouble, Takumi looked proud, her father said.
Seikichi decided to use the adult guardian system because he was worried about property management for Takumi, and was appointed in February 2007 as her guardian by a family court. Since then, Takumi has not been able to vote.
Seikichi has apologized to her, saying he meant to protect her rights but in the end her rights were taken away. "It's OK," Takumi reportedly said to him.
The guardian system started in 2000 to replace the former incompetency system, with the aim of supporting people who do not have adequate capacities to make judgments due to a disability or dementia. There are three types of arrangements according to a person's abilities: guardianship, curatorship and assistance. Only the guardianship category effectively requires wards to abdicate their right to vote. About 136,000 people had guardians as of the end of 2012.
"The right to vote is proof of my daughter's existence as a citizen of this country," Seikichi said. He has taught Takumi that voting is an important aspect of citizens' rights. He said Takumi still reads the newspaper and watches TV to learn about current events, and understands that the prime minister was changed after the House of Representatives election in December.
"Please don't take away her human dignity," Seikichi pleaded, with Takumi nodding next to him.
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Restrictions on disabled in focus
There are two issues in question for the first judicial ruling in this suit: whether it is legal to restrict the voting rights of people with intellectual or other disabilities, and even if it is allowed, whether it is reasonable to impose such a rule under the adult guardianship system.
Regulations restricting people's right to vote have been around since before World War II. Even with the premise of universal suffrage introduced after the war, there has been a stipulation that denies voting rights to people who lack the ability to make sound judgments. This stipulation has been carried over to the current adult guardianship system.
The system was designed to protect the rights of elderly and disabled people. Therefore, the plaintiffs insist the restriction is not valid, as the right to vote is equally guaranteed to all citizens of the country. The state, however, counters that the restriction is necessary because such impaired people may vote for candidates or parties they are told to support by a third party, without considering their own choices.
The Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted in 2006 at the United Nations and also signed by Japan, grants voting rights to disabled individuals.
"The stipulation in the Public Offices Election Law is outdated as it runs counter to the international trend," the plaintiff's statement said.

(Mar. 14, 2013)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T130313004160.htm

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