A/79/151 20. Legal gender recognition includes the ability to legally change one’s name, which has a positive impact on the ability to participate in elections and avoid discriminatory treatment at the polling station. In Brazil, the inclusion of the “social name” (or affirmed name) alongside the person’s legal name is permissible for the purpose of voter registration. 72 In Spain, voters can easily request and obtain changes to the gender notation and name on identity documents, following an administrative procedure based on gender self-identification. 73 Conversely, there are other countries where legal name changes are hampered by electoral regulations that narrowly limit name changes on voter rolls to situations involving transcription errors or to rectify harm caused by a current name. In the latter case, the law also specifically excludes gender identity and/or sexual orientation as an example of harm justifying a correction of name. 74 In several submissions, it was noted that electoral management regulations might officially state that a perceived mismatch between the appearance of the voter and the voter’s photograph on an identification document could not be the basis for refusing to permit a voter to vote, which is the case in El Salvador and Mexico, for example. 75 However, it was noted in many submissions that, even when legal provisions were not an obstacle, delays or other efficiency gaps within the registration system could lead to disenfranchisement for trans and non-binary would-be voters. 76 Delays in data exchange between relevant authorities may also pose practical challenges. 77 21. The extent to which binary and immutable concepts of gender are embedded in electoral regulations stands out as a structural basis of discrimination. Such difficulties have roots in the very design of civil and voter registration systems and regulations. Civil registration systems tend to rely on unique numeric or alphanumeric identifiers that are presumed to remain the same throughout a person’s life. These identifiers tend to contain a digit that corresponds to the person’s sex as assigned at birth, and another digit may control the veracity of the whole identifier. A change of surname, as is the practice in some settings for women (and some men) after marriage, does not have an impact on the identifier. Gender transition does have an impact, necessitating a change of record in such databases that goes beyond what is currently provided for in the regulatory regimes of civil registration. 78 B. Right to stand for election 22. The concept of morality can be linked to unreasonable restrictions on political rights on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The requirement of “high moral standing” or similarly worded criteria are sometimes applied to candidates, which may unreasonably restrict their right to be elected. 79 The link between criminal conviction and moral standing may occur through specific crimes against morality but is not always automatic. However, the subjective application of concepts of “morality” in the public sphere may render homosexuality or gender n on-conformity as “immoral” under more general eligibility provisions in certain national contexts. International observers have criticized such legal provisions for their ambiguity, which leaves the provisions open to arbitrary or politically motivated app lication, all due to the impossibility of developing stand-alone criteria for the determination of __________________ 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 10/25 Submission by the national human rights institution of Brazil, p. 5. Submission by Spain, p. 2. Submission by Observatorio Latinoamericano y del Caribe de los Derechos Políticos y Electorales de las Personas Trans, p. 3. Submissions by El Salvador, p. 2; and the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City, p. 6. Submission by Caribe Afirmativo, pp. 8 and 9. Submission by Ecuador, p. 3. Submission by Slovenia, p. 1. See art. 66 of the Constitution of Bangladesh, which disqualifies citizens from becoming members of parliament based “on conviction for a criminal offence involving moral turpitude ”. 24-12964