THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF RUSSIA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT 33 no proof of political manipulation had been adduced, and that no causal link between media coverage and the results of the elections had been shown. 116. The applicants argued that the findings of the Supreme Court in these respects were arbitrary and should not be relied upon. The Court reiterates that it is not a court of appeal from the national courts (see Cornelis v. the Netherlands (dec.), no. 994/03, ECHR 2004-V (extracts)), and it is not its function to deal with errors of fact or law allegedly committed by them (see, among many other authorities, García Ruiz v. Spain [GC], no. 30544/96, § 28, ECHR 1999-I). At the same time, the principle of subsidiarity does not prevent the Court from reviewing factual findings of the domestic courts if they are “arbitrary or manifestly unreasonable” (see I.Z. v. Greece, no. 18997/91, Commission decision of 28 February 1994, Decisions and Reports (DR) 76-B, p. 65, at p. 68, and Babenko v. Ukraine, (dec.), no. 43476/98, 4 May 1999; see also Khamidov v. Russia, no. 72118/01, § 170, 15 November 2007; Camilleri v. Malta (dec.), no. 51760/99, 16 March 2000; and Kononov v. Latvia [GC], no. 36376/04, § 189, 17 May 2010). The first question is thus whether the Supreme Court’s findings were arbitrary or manifestly unreasonable. 117. The applicants’ criticism of the domestic judgments was related, first, to the procedure and method applied by the Supreme Court, and, second, to the substance of its conclusions. As to the procedural aspect, the Court refers to its earlier finding under Article 13 that the procedure before the Supreme Court afforded minimum procedural guarantees. As to the material findings, the Court does not detect anything that would be “arbitrary or manifestly unreasonable” (see paragraph 35 above). 118. The Supreme Court found that the applicants had failed to show a causal link between the media coverage and the results of the elections. That finding is debatable; it is clear that the media coverage must have at least some effect on the voting preferences. What is true, however, is that the effect of media coverage is often very difficult to quantify. The Court recalls its own finding in the case of Partija Jaunie Demokrāti and Partija Mūsu Zeme v. Latvia (dec.), nos. 10547/07 and 34049/07, 29 November 2007) where it held that “however important [the propaganda by a political party] may be, [it] is not the only factor which affects the choice of potential voters. Their choice is also affected by other factors [...], so it is very difficult, if not impossible, to determine a causal link between “excessive” political publicity and the number of votes obtained by a party or a candidate at issue”. As was demonstrated by the Government, the SPS political party which obtained generally positive media coverage did not even pass the minimal electoral threshold. The Rodina political block, by contrast, obtained a much better score at the elections despite poor media coverage. Therefore, the Supreme Court’s arguments in this part did not appear “arbitrary or manifestly unreasonable”.