Persons who are visually impaired and eligible to vote, will, for the first time, be able to vote on their own without the assistance of officials of the Electoral Commission, the organisation Gozo Aid for the Visually Impaired (GAVI) has announced. This became possible following pressure by the local organisations of the visually impaired, which led to changes in the law by the Maltese Parliament last September.

The system works with the help of a template, which is attached to the ballot paper by the Electoral Commission. The choice of the parties and the candidates can be made from a list, which is in Braille and also as an audio-recording on CD. Voting preferences will be marked through apertures in the template.

Before the vote, officials of the Electoral Commission will be available to explain the process. GAVI will also be explaining the system and training visually impaired persons, residing in Gozo and wishing to make use of this voting system. For that purpose, GAVI representatives will be meeting those interested on Thursday the 6th and Friday the 7th of March from 9.30am till noon at the Adult Training Centre (ATC) premises, Mgarr Road, Ghajnsielem.

For further information please contact GAVI on 79069722 or 79550002.