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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Il diritto di voto secondo la Corte europea dei diritti dell'uomo e secondo la Corte comunitaria

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By two judgments of 12 september 2006 (Kingdom of Spain v. United Kingdom and Eman, Sevinger v. College van burgemeester en wethouders van Den Haag), the Court of Justice of the European Communities found that the provisions of the EC Treaty “contain no rule defining expressly and precisely who are to be entitled to the right to vote and stand as a candidate for the European Parliament”. As a con- senquence, in the current state of community law, the definition of these persons “falls within the competence of each Member State”. The Court pointed out that in the exercise of their competence Member States may not act contrary to EC law and in particular to the principle of equal treatment or non-discrimination. The view taken by the Court of Justice does not seem inspired from the case-law of the European Court of Human rights. The latter has established that Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms guarantees individual rights, including the right to vote and the right to stand for elections, both domestic and European. Nevertheless, after a closer examination of the European Court of Human Rights’ case-law the perspectives of the two Courts may turn out to be much less distant than a first impression could suggest.