Zdanoka v. Latvia: European Court of Human Rights: The boundaries of the right to be elected under article 3 of the first protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. Judgment of 16 March 2006, 'Zdanoka v. Latvia', application no. 58278/00

• Published in: European constitutional law review Vol. 3; no. 2; pp. 307 - 323
• Main Author: Hoogers, H.G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-07-2007
• Subjects: Constitutional law; Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; European Court of Human Rights; EUROPEAN UNION
• ISSN: 1574-0196; 1744-5515
• DOI: 10.1017/S1574019607003070

On March 16, 2006, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its final judgment in the case of Tatjana Zdanoka against the Republic of Latvia. Although not the first decision under Article 3 of the first Protocol, the 'Zdanoka' v. 'Latvia' case was important, because it allowed the Court to come to a decision on an aspect of Article 3, first Protocol, which in earlier case-law had not extensively been dealt with by the ECtHR: the right to be elected. Moreover, the case allowed the Court to make some statements of principle on another question with which numerous member states of the Council have been dealing throughout the 20th century: how far may a democracy go in protecting itself from (allegedly) undemocratic parties, groups or individuals? In doing so, the ECtHR added an important new element to its ever-growing case-law dealing with the meaning and scope of the concept of political democracy under the Convention. It also enabled the Court again to give concrete substance to its margin of appreciation-test when dealing with political participation rights of citizens of member states 'vis-a-vis' their own government.