aptitude of the person with mental illness, guaranteeing the right of the person with mental
illness to choose occupations; giving more substance to the rights of patients admitted to
mental health medical institutions and specifying the process for notifications for them;
and specifying the number of guardians to two persons in consent requirement clauses
when requesting a review for continuous hospital admission treatment. The Ministry of
Health and Welfare incorporated three opinions out of eight in the full amendment bill and
announced the notice of the legislation.
26) Opinion on Improving Discrimination Concerning Assistance of Candidates
with Disabilities for Local Elections
At the nationwide local elections held on June 2, 2010, there was discrimination against
candidates with disabilities needing personal assistants for local councilor election
campaign. Although candidates with disabilities hired personal assistants for election
campaigns in accordance with Article 122(2).3 of the Public Official Election Act, there
were neither allowances nor actual expenses provided for the assistants, thus generating
discrimination against the candidates with disabilities.
The Commission concluded that the political rights of the candidates with disabilities
were violated by the clause and expressed its opinion accordingly to the Speaker of the
National Assembly and the Chairperson of the National Election Commission that Article
122(2)3 of the Public Official Election Act should be revised to allow candidates with
disabilities to exert their right to eligibility for election to the same level as other
candidates in election campaigns.
27) Opinion on Revising the Public Official Election Act to Improve the Political
Rights of Persons with Visual Impairment
Monitoring of the right of persons with disabilities to vote was carried out in the
nationwide local elections held on June 2 as part of a project to monitor the
Chapter 1. Improvement of Laws, Regulations, Policies and Practices
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