LGBTI persons often face
numerous obstacles to fully exercise their participation rights in the
electoral process. In different countries, election observation organizations,
both domestic and international, have made efforts to identify barriers to the
effective participation of this community, document discriminatory legislation
and practices, and make recommendations to foster political inclusion.
Furthermore, LGBTI persons can also participate in the electoral process as
election observers.
Example: European Union Election Observation Missions occasionally
address LGBTI participation in elections, including references to this issue in
their preliminary statements and final reports. In Honduras, the 2017 Mission’s
final report gave account of discrimination and violence against LGBT community
members and of the existence of LGBT candidatures in the interim and PARLACEN
elections. It also pointed out the case of a trans candidate who was not given
the chance to change her name in the ballot paper, according to her actual
gender identity.[1] The
final report of the 2018 Mission in El Salvador dealt with LGBT candidatures,
violence against the LGBT community and EMBs efforts to promote the vote of
transgender people.[2]
Example: In Mexico, the National Electoral Institute (Instituto
Nacional Electoral) established a protocol to enhance participation of
transgender voters in the 2018 elections.[3]
The civil society organizations Organización Fuerza Ciudadana A.C. and Espacio
Progresista deployed domestic observers in polling stations during Election
Day, to monitor and assess the implementation of the Trans Protocol. The
transgender community also had the opportunity to participate in these election
observation efforts, by becoming domestic observers themselves. Organización
Fuerza Ciudadana A.C. benefits from the Support Fund for Electoral Observation,
an initiative launched by UNDP and Mexico’s EMBs to enhance transparent and
independent domestic observation of the electoral process.[4]
Example: In the second round of the 2015 Guatemalan presidential
elections, Citizen Action (Acción Ciudadana) and the Multi-cultural Network of
Trans Women (Red Multicultural de Mujeres Trans) deployed election observers in
Guatemala City and other neighboring municipalities, to identify the obstacles
that restrict transgender women’s participation in the process. Their report
contains concrete recommendations to promote the effective electoral
participation of this community.[5]
Example: In Pakistan, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN)
recruited 25 transgender persons as election observers for the 2018 Pakistani
general elections, to monitor human rights violations, violence and
discrimination against marginalized social groups in the electoral process.[6]
[1] European Union Election
Observation Mission to Honduras (2017): “Final Report, General Elections 2017.”
[2] European Union Election
Observation Mission to El Salvador (2018): “Final Report.”
