Bakirdzi and E. C. v. Ungheria, Nos. 49636/14, 65678/14, ECtHR (First Section), 10 November 2022

The right to free elections and national minorities.

Art. 3, Prot. 1 ECHR
Art. 14 ECHR

1. States may condition access to parliamentary representation and the Convention does not require States to adopt preferential thresholds in respect of national minorities. However, when establishing a quorum for national minority groups, consideration must be given to whether the requirement of such a threshold makes it more burdensome for a candidate from such a minority to garner the required votes than it would be to win a seat from the normal party lists and whether - in turn - such an electoral threshold has a negative impact on the opportunity of voters from a national minority to participate in the electoral process on an equal footing with other members of the electorate.

2. The Hungarian electoral system fell on national minorities with unequal weight due to their status as national minority voters, limiting the opportunity of these voters to increase their political effectiveness as a group and threatening to reduce, rather than increase, the diversity and participation of minorities in political decision-making. Considering their overall effect, the combination of the above-mentioned restrictions on the applicants' right to vote constituted a violation of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1, read in conjunction with Article 14.
(The two applicants - members of the Armenian and Greek minorities respectively - complained about the absence of a real possibility for members of a recognised national minority to hold a seat in Parliament under the preferential quota system adopted by the Hungarian electoral law).