Yumak and Sadak v. Turkey
Encyclopedia
Yumak and Sadak v. Turkey (application No. 10226/03) was a case before the European Court of Human Rights
on the requirement for parties standing in Turking parliamentary elections to meet the threshold
of 10% of the votes cast at Turkish parliamentary elections in order to gain seats, decided in 2008.
for the Grand National Assembly
but their party, DEHAP, did not achieve the 10% of votes necessary to be eligible for seats in parliament. In fact, that year some 45% of active voters weren't represented in parliament due to the threshold (Chamber judgment, Para. 13).
Dissents were expressed by judges Cabral Barreto and Mularoni
in Chamber and by judges Tulkens, Vajić, Jaeger and Šikuta in Grand Chamber.
v Latvia and Yumak and Sadak v Turkey are easy targets for those who would argue that the standards set by the Court under Article 3 are simply too low. However, they are certainly the types of cases which Judge Levits had in mind when he observed that the Court faces a 'dilemma' when examining applications under Article 3: 'on the one hand...it is the Court's task to protect the electoral rights of individuals; but, on the other hand, it should not overstep the limits of its explicit and implicit legitimacy and try to rule instead of the people on the constitutional order which this people creates for itself' "
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
on the requirement for parties standing in Turking parliamentary elections to meet the threshold
Election threshold
In party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to obtain any seats in the parliament...
of 10% of the votes cast at Turkish parliamentary elections in order to gain seats, decided in 2008.
Facts
The applicants stood in the 2002 parliamentary electionsTurkish general election, 2002
Turkey's 15th general election was held on November 3, 2002 following the collapse of the DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition led by Bülent Ecevit. It was won by the Justice and Development Party , led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, producing a crushing majority in spite of their winning just 34.3% of the national vote...
for the Grand National Assembly
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...
but their party, DEHAP, did not achieve the 10% of votes necessary to be eligible for seats in parliament. In fact, that year some 45% of active voters weren't represented in parliament due to the threshold (Chamber judgment, Para. 13).
Judgments
Both the original Chamber in 2007 and the Grand Chamber in 2008 found no violation of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to ECHR (right to free elections) in the case, by five votes to two and thirteen to four. However, they noted that "it would be desirable for the threshold complained of to be lowered and/or for corrective counterbalances to be introduced to ensure optimal representation of the various political tendencies" (Chamber judgment, Para. 77) and labeled the threshold as "excessive" (Grand Chamber judgment, Para. 147)Dissents were expressed by judges Cabral Barreto and Mularoni
Antonella Mularoni
Antonella Mularoni is Secretary of State for Foreign and Political Affairs, Telecommunications and Transport of the Republic of San Marino.She was formerly the San Marino judge for the European Court of Human Rights....
in Chamber and by judges Tulkens, Vajić, Jaeger and Šikuta in Grand Chamber.
Evaluation
"ZdanokaTatjana Ždanoka
Tatyana Arkad'evna Zhdanok, , born May 8, 1950 in Riga, is a Latvian politician and Member of the European Parliament and a co-Chairperson of For Human Rights in United Latvia; part of the European Greens–European Free Alliance group. Zhdanok is co-chairperson of ForHRUL since 2001...
v Latvia and Yumak and Sadak v Turkey are easy targets for those who would argue that the standards set by the Court under Article 3 are simply too low. However, they are certainly the types of cases which Judge Levits had in mind when he observed that the Court faces a 'dilemma' when examining applications under Article 3: 'on the one hand...it is the Court's task to protect the electoral rights of individuals; but, on the other hand, it should not overstep the limits of its explicit and implicit legitimacy and try to rule instead of the people on the constitutional order which this people creates for itself' "