To the extent that the annexing State exercises effective control over the annexed territory within the meaning of Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, it is under the obligation to secure the inhabitants’ rights under the Convention. In principle, this comprises the right to free and fair elections. The primary obligation of the annexing State is to restore the inhabitants’ voting rights in the elections to the parliament of the State to which the territory lawfully belongs. At any rate, under international humanitarian law, the state of occupation is seen as temporary, and the occupying State must refrain from introducing any important institutional changes in the territory under its (provisional) control that would predetermine the future status of this territory. The organisation of elections for a provisional authority for the occupied territory seems more in line with these obligations than including the territory in national elections to the parliament of the occupying State. In any event, the organisation of elections in the annexed territory does not and cannot remedy the annexation.