THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF RUSSIA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT 19 been examined by the CEC. Neither had the applicants challenged decisions of individual members of the CEC, such as their refusals to proceed with the complaints. 63. Neither had the applicants pursued administrative remedies in connection with the alleged breaches of electoral law by the broadcasting companies. The applicants alleged that the major TV companies had breached the rules of political campaigning and referred to 518 instances of such breaches (see paragraph 21 above). However, they had not produced any court decision or administrative act confirming the existence of those particular breaches. The members of the CEC had not drawn up any administrative offence report in 2003; the members of the regional electoral commissions had drawn up 152 reports related to unlawful electoral campaigning and inappropriate media coverage, 63 of which had been confirmed by the courts and a sanction imposed. The Government cited several examples of administrative cases that had been initiated on the basis of reports drawn up by members of regional electoral commissions. 64. Candidates were also entitled to bring their complaints directly before the courts. It did not matter whether or not a complaint had been examined by the full CEC, or by an individual member of that body. Even if the CEC had not taken any formal decision in the relevant procedure, its actions were amenable to judicial review by a district court. The Government produced copies of decisions of courts at various levels which had examined and upheld complaints about breaches of the electoral law. 65. The Government acknowledged that the applicants had contested before the Supreme Court the decree of the CEC of 19 December 2003 confirming the results of the 2003 elections. However, in essence the applicants complained of a violation of their rights by the broadcasting companies, and not the CEC, but had not lodged any claim against the broadcasting companies and other mass media which had allegedly participated in the alleged denigration of opposition candidates. 66. The Government cited examples of cases considered by the Russian courts in which candidates in the elections had successfully defended their rights, for instance, a decision of 23 November 2001 by the Supreme Court of Russia. Sitting as a court of appeal, it had set aside a decision of the electoral commission of the Magadan electoral district no. 6 on the ground of “unequal coverage of the electoral campaign by the mass media”. The Government also referred to court proceedings which had resulted in the exclusion of a candidate in the regional elections for unlawful campaigning; the award of damages to a candidate for the unlawful removal of information about him from the voting ballots; the award of damages for libel and defamation in the context of an electoral campaign; and judicial review of the lawfulness of decisions of the local electoral commissions. 67. There were also other available remedies which the applicants had failed to use properly. In particular, the Government referred to the