CDL-AD(2020)025 VI. - 18 - Persons entitled to lodge complaints – Standing 58. Effectiveness of election dispute resolution systems also relies on the capacity of the stakeholders who are or should be entitled to lodge complaints on any irregularity or inaccuracy in the course of an electoral process, or on some of them depending on the possibilities granted by law, to lodge electoral complaints. A. International standards 59. In order to comply with international standards, complaint and appeals procedures should clearly provide the right for voters, candidates and political parties to lodge electoral complaints. The Code of good practice in electoral matters does not develop extensively the categories of persons able to lodge electoral complaints, stipulating that “[a]ll candidates and all voters registered in the constituency concerned must be entitled to appeal. A reasonable quorum may be imposed for appeals by voters on the results of elections.”85 The Explanatory Report of the Code of good practice in electoral matters specifies however that “[s]tanding in such appeals must be granted as widely as possible. It must be open to every elector in the constituency and to every candidate standing for election there to lodge an appeal”,86 which should be interpreted as the possibility for other categories of persons involved in electoral processes to lodge electoral complaints as well. The European Court of Human Rights also accepts reasonable quorum requirements.87 60. The European Court of Human Rights has recognised that the right of individual voters to appeal against elections results “may be subject to reasonable limitations in the domestic legal order.”88 However, while the right to appeal against election results may be subject inter alia to procedural limitations, these results should nonetheless be subject to a judicial appeal. Similarly, General Comment No. 25 to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights suggests that election results, including the counting process, should be appealable. B. Domestic situations 61. Persons entitled to appeal can be: citizens – i.e. voters, registered or not –, candidates and their proxies, political parties or coalitions – registered or not –, election commissioners – including representatives of political parties seating in election commissions or observing –, non-partisan election observers and non-governmental organisations. Domestic legislation provides in general with most of these possibilities, but situations vary a lot depending on the countries concerned. 62. In some countries, there are still excessive limitations: for instance, it happens that voters can complain on issues that relate to their individual situations, such as not being registered on voter registers, but cannot complain on other phases of an electoral process, which however impact them. In a number of electoral laws, it has been observed that rights to lodge electoral complaints are too limited, taking into account the relation between the accessibility 85 Code of good practice in electoral matters, Guideline II 3.3. f. Code of good practice in electoral matters, Explanatory Report, para. 99. 87 Cf. in particular X. v. Germany, European Commission of Human Rights, Decision 7 May 1979. 88 Uspaskich v. Lithuania, 20 December 2016, para. 93. See also Gahramanli and others v. Azerbaijan, 8 October 2015, para. 69. Davydov and others v. Russia, 30 May 2017, para. 335: “The Court confirms that the right of individual voters to appeal against the results of voting may be subject to reasonable limitations in the domestic legal order. Nevertheless, where serious irregularities in the process of counting and tabulation of votes can lead to a gross distortion of the voters’ intentions, such complaints should receive an effective examination by the domestic authorities. A failure to ensure the effective examination of such complaints would constitute a violation of individuals’ right to free elections guaranteed under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention, in its active and passive aspects.” 86