Petkov and Others v. Bulgaria, Nos. 77568/01, 178/02 and 505/02, ECtHR (Fifth Section), 11 June 2009

Failure of the Bulgarian authorities to reinstate on the electoral lists some candidates who were initially excluded.

Art. 3, Prot. 1 ECHR

1. Among the principles deriving from Article 3 of Prot. 1 of the ECHR is that of the stability of electoral law, which is fundamental to a democratic society that respects the rule of law. In such a society the electoral authorities cannot cite their disapproval of the findings of a final judgment as a reason for not respecting it.

2. In the electoral context only those remedies that guarantee the proper conduct of the democratic process can be considered effective.
(The three applicants, who were duly registered for the parliamentary elections, were struck off the electoral roll because of an electoral law that came into force two months before the elections. A few days before the opening of the polls, the Supreme Administrative Court reinstated the applicants, but the Electoral Commission did not follow up the decision).