The Venice Commission has assessed the decisions by the SEC (11 April 2019) and the Ministry of the Interior (19 August 2019) in the light of relevant European and international standards, in particular:
- the European Charter for Local Self-Government (ECLSG) which was ratified by Turkey on 9 December 1992;
- the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which was ratified by Turkey in 2003. It includes the right to vote and be elected (Article 25), see also the corresponding General Comment 25 of the UN Committee on Human Rights which makes it clear inter alia that any restrictions to the right to stand for election “must be justifiable on objective and reasonable criteria”. This article is applicable to local elections;
- the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR); however, it must be noted that according to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) Article 3 of the First Additional Protocol to the ECHR is in principle not applicable to elections for local authorities;
- the Venice Commission’s Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters;
- the Venice Commission’s Rule of Law Checklist.