Die Vorgaben der EMRK für die demokratische Organisation der Mitgliedstaaten

The European Convention on Human Rights ECHR is the most important instrument for safeguarding Human rights in Public International Law. As such, it is primarily concerned with the protection of individuals. However, the ECHR also contains requirements for the structure and the organization of its members. This is particularly true for article 3 protocol 1 ECHR, which obliges the Member States to hold free elections at reasonable intervals. Thus, article 3 protocol 1 ECHR requires Member States to abide by basic democratic standards. While the obligations enshrined in article 3 protocol 1 ECHR aim specifically at institutional elements of democracy, it is by no means the only provision of the ECHR relating to the democratic organization of ECHR Member States. On the contrary other provisions (see, for example, Article 10, para 2, ECHR) limit the Members States possibility to restrict the rights conferred by the ECHR to measures deemed »necessary in a democratic society«. This article analyses the relevant case law of the ECtHR regarding the pertinent provisions of the ECHR. This analysis reveals that, even though the case law of the ECtHR is necessarily limited to individual cases, and even if article 3 protocol 1 ECHR and the other provisions of the ECHR referring to democracy may appear not be connected at all, the ECtHR clearly has a consistent understanding of what »democracy« means in the context of the ECHR. Nevertheless, the ECHR and the case law of the ECtHR may only act as a safeguard for democracy in Member States that are generally willing to abide by democratic standards.