CASE OF PARTEI DIE FRIESEN v. GERMANY
Remainder inadmissible;No violation of Article 14+P1-3 - Prohibition of discrimination (Article 14 - Discrimination) (Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 - Right to free elections-{general};Stand for election)
André Potocki;Angelika Nußberger;Carlo Ranzoni;Ganna Yudkivska;Mārtiņš Mits;Síofra O’Leary
5. The applicant party was founded in 2007 and is based in Aurich. It claims to represent the interests of the Frisian minority in Germany but limits its political activities to the Land of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) where the East Frisians traditionally settle. The applicant party estimates the number of people of Frisian origin within the territory of Lower Saxony at about 100,000 out of the total population of approximately 7,900,000. The Frisians have their own language and cultural identity which is similar among the West Frisians in the Netherlands and the North Frisians in the Land of Schleswig-Holstein, while the East Frisians in Lower Saxony have mainly stopped speaking their language. 6. Under the Electoral Law of Lower Saxony (Niedersächsisches Landeswahlgesetz, see relevant domestic law, paragraph 16 below), parliamentary seats – apart from those seats attributed to the candidates obtaining the majority of the votes in their constituency – are allocated under the D’Hondt system of proportional representation. Under section 33 § 3 of the Electoral Law, seats are attributed only to parties which obtain a minimum threshold of 5% of the total of votes validly cast. This threshold is also included in Article 8 § 3 of the Lower Saxonian Constitution (see relevant domestic law, paragraph 15 below). 7. By letter of 27 September 2007 to the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony and by letter of 17 December 2007 to the President of the Lower Saxony Parliament, the applicant party asked to be granted an exemption from the minimum threshold for the upcoming elections. The request was refused. 8. In the elections of 27 January 2008, the applicant party attained an overall total of 10,069 votes, amounting to approximately 0.3% of all votes validly cast. Irrespective of the minimum threshold, the number of votes received would not have been sufficient to obtain a parliamentary mandate. 9. On 6 March 2008 the applicant party lodged an objection against the validity of the election result. The applicant party submitted, in particular, that it represented the interests of the Frisian people residing in Lower Saxony. The Frisian people formed a national minority within the meaning of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (“the Framework Convention”, ETS No. 157, see Council of Europe documents, paragraphs 20-23 below). The applicant party complained, in particular, that the minimum threshold resulted in their factual exclusion from participating in the parliamentary elections and amounted to discriminatory treatment visàvis other small political parties which were, at least theoretically, capable of reaching that threshold. The applicant party further relied on Article 14 in conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention. 10. On 9 May 2008, the Election Supervisor of Lower Saxony (Landeswahlleiter), jointly with the Ministry of the Interior, submitted written comments on the objection. They considered, firstly, that it was doubtful whether the group of Frisians qualified as a national minority. Under the declaration submitted by the German Government when signing the Framework Convention, only the Danes of German citizenship and members of the Sorbian people with German citizenship were recognised as national minorities in the Federal Republic of Germany. Conversely, the declaration merely stated that the Framework Convention also applied to the ethnic group of Frisians with German citizenship. It was thus clear from the wording of the declaration that the Frisians did not qualify as a national minority. Even assuming that the ethnic group of Frisians had the status of a national minority, this did not necessarily entail the obligation to exempt the applicant party from obtaining the minimum threshold of 5% of the votes. There was no such obligation under the Basic Law or under the constitution of the Land of Lower Saxony or under the Framework Convention. Neither could such an obligation be derived from section 6 § 6 of the Federal Electoral Law (Bundeswahlgesetz), as the Länder were competent to pass their own electoral laws without being bound by the Federal Law. The privileges enjoyed by the Danish Minority Party in the Land of Schleswig-Holstein did not allow any further conclusions, as the protection and promotion of the Danish minority was prescribed by the constitution of the respective Land. Finally, and again assuming the minority status of the ethnic group of Frisians, it was questionable whether the applicant party would qualify as the party of the Frisian national minority. The assessment of this question did not only depend on the party’s vision of itself, but on an overall assessment of all factual and legal circumstances. 11. On 2 February 2009 the Parliamentary Committee on the Scrutiny of Elections (Wahlprüfungsausschuss) held a public hearing on the applicant party’s objection. 12. On 19 February 2009 the Lower Saxony Parliament rejected the applicant party’s objection as being unfounded. Relying on the submissions made by the Election Supervisor jointly with the Ministry of the Interior, the Parliament considered that an obligation to exempt the applicant party from the minimum threshold could neither be derived from the Constitution of Lower Saxony, nor from Federal or International Law. It followed that the applicant’s objection was unfounded. 13. On 6 April 2009 the applicant lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court of Lower Saxony (Niedersächsischer Staatsgerichtshof). The applicant party requested the Constitutional Court to quash the parliamentary decision of 19 February 2009 and to declare the result of the elections held on 27 January 2008 invalid; or, alternatively, to declare section 33 § 3 of the Electoral Law unconstitutional. 14. On 30 April 2010 the Constitutional Court of Lower Saxony rejected the applicant party’s complaint as being unfounded. The Constitutional Court observed, at the outset, that the relevant provisions did not allow for an exemption from the minimum threshold for national minorities. The Constitutional Court further considered that the minimum threshold interfered with the principle of equality of the vote. This interference was justified because it pursued the legitimate aim of safeguarding the functioning of the elected parliament. Parliamentary work within a democracy necessitated that the parliaments remain able to take decisions and that they were not inhibited in their work by the participation of splinter parties. The Constitutional Court further referred to the case-law of the Federal Constitutional Court regarding the 5% minimum threshold. There was no obligation under the Basic Law to exempt parties of national minorities from the 5% threshold. It was true that certain electoral laws provided for such exemptions. This was, in particular, the case with the Federal Electoral Law, which provided an exemption for parties of national minorities, and with the Electoral Laws of the Länder of Brandenburg and Schleswig-Holstein, providing for exemptions for the parties of the Sorbian and the Danish minorities, respectively. However, both Länder provided special rights for national minorities in their respective constitutions. No such provisions could be found in the Constitution of the Land of Lower Saxony. The Federal Constitutional Court had declared the respective provision in the Federal Electoral Law constitutional, even though the Basic Law did not contain special rights for national minorities. However, the Federal Constitutional Court had also emphasised that the legislator enjoyed a margin of appreciation in this respect. The Lower Saxony Constitutional Court finally considered that the alleged right could be derived neither from the European Convention on Human Rights nor from the Framework Convention. The European Convention on Human Rights did not contain any special rights for national minorities. Relying on the wording of Article 15 of the Framework Convention, the court considered that this provision did not contain any obligation to exempt national minorities from the minimum threshold, but left the question undecided as to how to create the conditions necessary for the effective participation of persons belonging to national minorities in public affairs. It followed that the contracting parties enjoyed a wide margin of appreciation in this respect. In Germany, participation of national minorities in public life was already guaranteed by the constitutional system. By including the 5% threshold in the Constitution of the Land of Lower Saxony without providing for an exemption, the Constitutional Assembly had given precedence to the functioning of the parliament over granting privileges to national minorities. Accordingly, the Lower Saxony Constitutional Court did not find it necessary to determine whether the Frisians qualified as a national minority and whether the applicant party qualified as the political party of this national minority.