Information Note on the Court’s case-law 19

June 2000

BriÄ·e v. Latvia (dec.) - 47135/99

Decision 29.6.2000 [Section II]

Article 3 of Protocol No. 1

Stand for election

Obligation of judge standing as candidate in parliamentary election to resign: inadmissible

The applicant, a District Court judge, decided to stand in a parliamentary election. Her candidature was registered. However, she was subsequently struck f rom the list of candidates on the ground that she had not left office, whereas the electoral legislation stipulated that judges were ineligible.

Inadmissible under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1: The rights set forth in that article are not absolute; the word ing of the provision is such that it may be seen to incorporate limitations which permit States to attach conditions to those rights. The latitude allowed to States is particularly extensive when they determine cases of ineligibility, since these are linke d to the particular historical and political characteristics of each State. The ineligibility of civil servants is a proportionate response to the requirement for independence in the civil service. The same applies a fortiori to the ineligibility of judges , the purpose of which is to guarantee to litigants the rights protected by Article 6 § 1. There is no interference with the actual substance of the rights guaranteed, since the applicant could have resigned from office in order to stand in the elections: manifestly ill-founded .

© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.

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