European Court of Human Rights
30 November 2021
Complaint
The applicant complained about his inability to vote in legislative elections while he was serving a sentence in a prison situated outside the electoral constituency of his place of residence.
Court’s ruling
The Court found that the applicant’s right to vote had been restricted, not by court but because the domestic law only permitted voting in the electoral constituency where the voter’s place of residence was situated. The Court accepted that the electoral system in Romania pursued a legitimate aim, however, the judges ruled that the restriction was not proportionate. Firstly, there was a strong European consensus that prisoners in the applicant’s situation should be allowed to exercise their right to vote. Moreover, the Court found that 12 of the 42 electoral constituencies did not have a detention facility, and that prisoners were not allowed to consider the detention facility as their place of residence. This meant that any prisoner who, like the applicant, had his/her residence in a constituency without a detention facility would automatically be banned from voting. The Court ruled that such a situation was incompatible with Article 3 of the Protocol No.1.