YUMAK AND SADAK v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 37 (iii) Conclusion 147. In conclusion, the Court considers that in general a 10% electoral threshold appears excessive. In that connection, it concurs with the organs of the Council of Europe, which have stressed the threshold’s exceptionally high level and recommended that it be lowered (see paragraphs 58 and 130 above). It compels political parties to make use of stratagems which do not contribute to the transparency of the electoral process. In the present case, however, the Court is not persuaded that, when assessed in the light of the specific political context of the elections in question, and attended as it is by correctives and other guarantees which have limited its effects in practice, the threshold has had the effect of impairing in their essence the rights secured to the applicants by Article 3 of Protocol No. 1. 148. There has accordingly been no violation of that provision. FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT Holds by thirteen votes to four that there has been no violation of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1. Done in English and in French, and delivered at a public hearing in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 8 July 2008. Vincent Berger Jurisconsult Boštjan M. Zupančič President In accordance with Article 45 § 2 of the Convention and Rule 74 § 2 of the Rules of Court, the joint dissenting opinion of Judges Tulkens, Vajić, Jaeger and Šikuta is annexed to this judgment. B.M.Z. V.B.