The Venice Commission had noted that under Article 15 of the ECHR, any extraordinary limitations of human rights are permissible only “to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation” and that the measures issued by Decree-Law N° 674 had to be necessary, temporary and proportionate. The same requirements for state of emergency measures are set by Article 4 of the ICCPR. The Commission failed to see why the provisions in Article 45 of the Municipality Law in their original version – which provided inter alia for election by the municipal council of a deputy mayor, in case of suspension of a mayor – could not be deemed sufficient to fight terrorism, and “how suppressing the elective nature of organs of local authorities (with an impact on the people’s right to vote to elect their local representatives) is necessitated by the state of emergency”.