Article 3 of the Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of ECHR, has it ever been used?

Question

This question arises out of a previous question on Hungary's prospects to overturn autocratic rule after an unlikely election victor of the unified opposition titled: Is it possible that the ECJ will annul the decrees of prima facie constitutional use of the Orban government in Hungary?.

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Is there any case law by the European Court of Human Rights in a matter where a High Contracting Party was found to have deprived its people of their right to free elections? If so, what cases are they?

Answer 1

Yes, this has come before the Court.

Some prominent examples are -

1. Mathieu-Mohin and Clerfayt v Belgium (1987), the first time Article 3 was before the European Court of Human Rights, on the complex Belgian system of balancing French-speaking and Dutch-speaking electoral institutions
2. Matthews v United Kingdom (1999), on whether people in Gibraltar should be able to vote in elections to the European Parliament
3. Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2) (2005), on whether the UK could have a blanket ban on voting applicable to all prisoners
4. Riza and others v Bulgaria (2015), on selective interference with the electoral count

In all but the first of these, the Court found a violation of Article 3 of the Protocol. At other times, it has given deference to a State's particular processes, or ruled that a complaint was inadmissible because it did not pertain to the covered type of election.

You may be interested to read the Court's guide to its case-law on the topic (a 34-page PDF) which includes many more citations, and an explanation of the legal reasoning involved.