VII. Part V - The amendments to the provincial electoral law

B. Introduction of a temporal limitation to the mandate of the President of the Province, the assessors and the councillors (Article 45)

Restriction in tenure touches upon the citizen’s voting rights, the right to take part in periodic elections entailing both the right to vote freely and to stand for election. The European Court of Human Rights stresses the wide margin of appreciation the Member states enjoy in this respect. The test for the compatibility of restrictions on the right to vote is basically limited to two criteria, namely “whether there has been arbitrariness or a lack of proportionality” and “whether the restriction has interfered with the free expression of the opinion of the people”.^[1] The margin of appreciation is even wider when passive electoral rights are concerned.^[2] In a more general way, the UN Human Rights Committee holds in its General Comment on Article 25 ICCPR that conditions which apply to the exercise of the rights protected under Article 25 ICCPR should be based on objective and reasonable criteria.^[3]

[1] ECtHR (Grand Chamber), Zdanoka v. Latvia, No 58278/00 (2006) paragraph 115.

[2]ECtHR (Grand Chamber), Zdanoka v. Latvia, No 58278/00 (2006) paragraphs 106 and 115.

[3] General Comment No 25 (1996), paragraph 4.