On January 30, the European Court of Human Rights held 5-2 that Turkey had not violated two citizens’ right to free elections. The applicants’ political party had obtained approximately 46% of the votes in local elections, but had not satisfied the 10% national threshold necessary for the applicants to be seated in the national parliament. As a result, the seats were filled by candidates from parties that had received a much smaller percentage of the local vote. Before the Court, the applicants alleged that the Turkish law imposing the 10% limit violated article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights. For more information about the case, Yumak and Sadak v. Turkey, see here.
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