정신적 장애인의 선거권 보장 ― 프랑스의 선거법 개정과 시사점 ―

초록

South Korea introduced, in 2013, a new adult guardianship system and replaced with it the former incompetency system. The article 18(1)1 of the Public Election Act which put persons declared incompetent among those deprived of the right to vote, however, remained unchanged. An Attempt to abolish this deprivation was unsuccessful. Attempts to explicitly deprive persons under guardianship of their right to vote also have failed, due in part to the National Election Commission that expressed its opinion that adults under guardianship should also enjoy their rights to vote on an equal basis with others. Meanwhile, many countries, including Germany, France, and Japan, that have previously restricted the voting rights of persons with mental disabilities have abolished the restriction and are now working to ensure that they can effectively and fully exercise their rights to vote. Such legislative reforms were influenced by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which South Korea is one of the State Parties. The latest revision of the French Electoral Code, which abolished all limitations on the right to vote for persons with mental disabilities, has implications in two respects. The first is the extent to which persons with mental disabilities are guaranteed suffrage. Under the old system, the French courts judged whether or not a person under guardianship is to keep his/her right to vote. The system met with various criticism at home and abroad, which led to a 2019 reform of the French Code of Election. Most of the criticism of the old french system is also valid in the discussions on revising Korea’s Public Election Act. They can support the argument that persons with mental disabilities should also be allowed to exercise fully their rights to vote and any limitation on these rights is discrimination against persons with disabilities. The second is the extent of support to ensure the effective exercise of these rights. Institutional supports from leading countries to guarantee the universal suffrage of persons with mental disabilities are similar in a nutshell, but the details vary from country to country. As one of the efforts to secure the sincerity of voting, France prohibits a certain type of people, such as public guardians, managers, and employees of care facilities, from exercising the right to vote on behalf of persons with mental disabilities. It is also worth noting the collaboration between the French government and various associations of persons with disabilities. Although candidates are not yet legally bound to provide easy-to-read campaign materials, associations themselves provide, with government funding, materials explaining the voting system in easy-to-read documents and videos. A new bill to revise the Public Election Act has been submitted to the 21st National Assembly. This bill is a step forward compared to the previous bills in that it puts at the forefront the restoration of the right to vote for persons with mental disabilities, but it still has its limitations in that it provides no active measures to guarantee the effective exercise of their rights to vote. This article may present grounds for future legislative debates to amend the present bill and provide measures to ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in public elections.

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