Judgments

The Court cannot rule on choices made by the authors of the Constitution (B. 2.3 and B.3.5).Article 3 Protocol 1 ECHR safeguards the right to vote or to be elected, but only in elections to assemblies which exercise legislative powers over electors or candidates who invoke that article (B.4.6 to B.4.8, B.4.15 and B.4.16).Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights concerns the protection of persons belonging to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, and prohibits Contracting States, inter alia, from denying these persons the right to their own cultural life in community with other members of their group. The constitutional rules safeguarding the principles of equality and non-discrimination covered by the aforementioned Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights are not violated by the legislative provision which no longer allows French- speaking inhabitants of a district in the Flemish region to sit on the Council of the French Community, which has no legislative power over the said inhabitants, but does not deprive them of the right to have their own cultural life in community with other members of their group or of the right to use the cultural amenities for which the French Community is responsible (B.4.12 to B.4.14).In the light of the case-law of the European Convention on Human Rights (Mathieu-Morin and Clerfayt case, Series A no. 113, para. 57,Special Bulletin ECHR [ECH-1987-S-001]) and in view of the fact that the oath taken by elected representatives is of equal concern to those who administer and those who take it, the obligation of taking the oath in Dutch imposed on all members of the Flemish Council, including French-speaking members, by the special law under ) and in view of the fact that the oath taken by elected representatives is of equal concern to those who administer and those who take it, the obligation of taking the oath in Dutch imposed on all members of the Flemish Council, including French-speaking members, by the special law under Article 115 of the Constitution, is not discriminatory. This obligation cannot be regarded as a clearly unreasonable restriction of the right secured to every person by Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to use their own language in community with other members of their group. The different systems applying in other legislative assemblies reflect their special character (B.4.18 to B.4.24).The decision to keep the Brussels-Hal-Vilvorde constituency, comprising communes located in two separate regions (the Flemish region and the Brussels-Capital region), for elections to the federal chambers and the European Parliament was taken for the sake of arriving at a general compromise and securing the essential balance between the interests of the various communes and regions within the Belgian State. This aim may justify the distinction made by the challenged provisions between electors and candidates in the constituency of Brussels- Hal-Vilvorde and those in other constituencies, provided that the measures taken can reasonably be regarded as not disproportionate. They would be if they disregarded fundamental freedoms and rights (B.5.5 to B. 5.10).

Any elector or candidate is entitled to request the setting aside of measures which may affect their vote or candidature adversely. Extension of the right to vote or stand in municipal elections to citizens of the European Union residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals violates neither the right to vote nor the right to be elected, since every individual remains entirely free to vote for the candidate of his choice and to stand for election (B.7 to B.9).