Information Note on the Court’s case-law 10
September 1999
Hilbe v. Liechtenstein (dec.) - 31981/96
Decision 7.9.1999 [Section IV]
Article 3 of Protocol No. 1
Vote
Liechtenstein national living in Switzerland prevented from voting in his country: inadmissible
In 1995 the applicant, a national of Liechtenstein, was refused permission to have his name entered on the electoral roll for a referendum on the ground that for a number of years he had been living outside his country and the law limited the exercise of the right to vote to persons habitually resident in the country. The applicant unsuccessfully appealed to the authorities. In 1986 Parliament confirmed that citizens of Liechtenstein living abroad could not exercise the right to vote.
Inadmissible under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1: only parliamentary elections fell within the scope of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1; referenda were excluded from that provision. According to the Commission’s case-law, a residence requirement was not in itself contrary to the provisions of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 (see, for example, Luksch v. Italy, DR 89, p. 175 and Polacco and Garofalo v. Italy, DR 90, p. 5). In the present case the legislation in question had been inspired by legitimate considerations in so far as nationals living abroad lost contact with “public affairs” and, furthermore, were not directly concerned by the work of elected assemblies. The residence requirement of which the applicant complained was neither unreasonable nor arbitrary: manifestly ill-founded.
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