There is an inherent link between the right to be elected and the right to sit as an elected person. One implies the other. The European Commission of Human Rights already considered that “it is not enough that an individual has the right to stand for election, he must also have a right to sit as a member once he has been elected by the people. To take the opposite view would render the right to stand for election meaningless”. This principle was confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights, which considered “that [Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the ECHR] guarantees the individual's right to stand for election and, once elected, to sit as a member of parliament”.  The rationale behind this rule is that the right to be elected would be an empty shell, deprived of any effectiveness, if the legal protection of that right did not extend to elected representatives in carrying out their duties on behalf of the voters. 6 The Venice Commission considers that this principle applies to all elective positions.