Comunità politica e universalità del suffragio nella giurisprudenza della Corte EDU: la vexata quaestio dei criteri di delimitazione del corpo elettorale

Political community and universal suffrage in the ECtHR’s case law: the thorny issue of the criteria to identify eligible voters

Abstract

Political community and universal suffrage in the ECtHR’s case law: the thorny issue of the criteria to identify eligible voters – The compact underlying each State conceptualizes the people as a political community of equals entitled to participate in public decision-making through elections. Nowadays the traditional monopoly of States in granting political rights is questioned by an increasing commitment of supranational adjudicatory bodies to universal suffrage. The consolidation of supranational standards of protection of voting rights has restricted the otherwise illimited discretion States used to exercise. The article discusses to what extent the ECtHR’s findings have bolstered domestic efforts to expand citizens’ enfranchisement and whether these decisions foresee an evolution of the role of the ECtHR in reviewing domestic legislation.

Keywords: Constitutional interpretation; Electorate; Political rights; Voting restrictions; Universal suffrage.