NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva

conditions concerning elections, disqualification of a political party, and the provision of information on elections. We are going to start with the first issue. 2.12.2 New conditions for elections and disqualification of parties The Convention gives a wide margin of appreciation to the member states in the way of arranging elections. They are free to set forth different conditions on participation in the election procedure. Nevertheless, if the state introduces new conditions for participation in elections too late, this would lead to violation. In the case of Ekoglasnost v. Bulgaria , 1214 the applicant party sought, before the Court, the protection of its right to stand for election. The Court found a breach of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1, because the introduction of new conditions for the participation in parliamentary elections took place one month before the deadline for candidate registration. 1215 The applicant in the present case was the Bulgarian political party ‘Ekoglasnost’. In May 2005, the Central Electoral Commission refused to register it as a participant in the forthcoming June 25 parliamentary elections, on the ground that it had not satisfied three new conditions introduced into the electoral law in April 2005. These conditions were as follows: 1) the submission of a document certifying the payment of an electoral deposit, 2) a certificate from the Court of Audit showing that the party had submitted its annual financial reports for the past three years, and 3) the signatures of at least 5,000 voters supporting the party’s participation in the elections. The Court observed that in general none of these three conditions are of the nature to raise an issue under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1. They had been provided for by domestic law with the aim of ensuring the participation in parliamentary elections of viable political formations that were sufficiently representative in society. Such requirements are in compliance with the rules on the transparency of political financing. The leaders of the applicant party could have expected to be asked to provide this type of information. Regarding the other two requirements, they were much less predictable. Upon the introduction of new legislation, parties had been required to nominate their candidates no later than 46 days before the date of the elections. Ekoglasnost, accordingly, had had only one month to obtain the 5,000 signatures. It also had to find finances to pay the unexpected election deposit. In this judgment, the Court referred to the Venice Commission documents, which establish categories of fundamental electoral rules, namely, the voting system, the composition of electoral commissions and the fixing of constituency boundaries. 1216 The Court took the view that the conditions on participation in elections imposed in Bulgaria were among the fundamental electoral rules. Moreover, that short period of time had not prevented twelve other small political groups from taking part in the elections. On the other hand, ten other parties had not been able to take part in the 1214 Ekoglasnost , cited above, § 72. 1215 European court rules Bulgaria in breach of free elections right, 12 November 2012 (online). URL: accessed 20 July 2015. 1216 Ekoglasnost , cited above, §§ 38-41.

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