PRACTICE OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN RESOLVING ELECTORAL DISPUTES

Abstract

The article states that the right to vote and to stand for election is directly enshrined in Article 21 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stipulates that elections must comply with the principles of periodicity, universality and equality of expression. It is emphasized that democratic elections are elections that were not rigged, which were held in compliance with the requirement of secrecy of the ballot or through other forms that allow for the exercise of freedom of the electoral process. It is emphasized that the organization and conduct of democratic elections is an unconditional criterion for the legitimacy of the exercise of public administration functions by the subjects of power. The purpose of the article is to characterize the practice of the European Court of Human Rights in resolving election disputes. Realization of the set purpose provides the decision of a number of tasks, such as: 1) definition of principles of settlement of electoral disputes by the European Court of Human Rights; 2) description of the conditions of admissibility of the application for protection of voting rights; 3) generalization of the existing European judicial practice on consideration and resolution of election cases. In conclusion, it is established that the satisfaction of the application submitted to the ECtHR should result in the initiation of a review of the relevant administrative case. In addition, the consideration of the election dispute of the ECtHR should be limited to the separation of the subject matter of the case and the peculiarities of the contested election process. Therefore, the protection of suffrage by the ECtHR should meet the requirements of efficiency, proportionality of interference within the discretion of administrative bodies and promote the exercise of the person’s right to vote and / or be a candidate for public office.