30 COMMUNIST PARTY OF RUSSIA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT Administration responsible for internal policy, had proclaimed that the Presidential Administration was supporting United Russia. 104. The applicants further argued that Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 implicitly imposed on the Government an obligation to adopt positive measures to ensure the “free expression of the opinion of the people” through equal coverage. They claimed that in certain circumstances it may be considered necessary during an election period to place certain restrictions on freedom of expression, in order to secure the “free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature.” 105. The applicants claimed that their complaint raised the issue of unbalanced coverage (“informing” in domestic terms) in the first instance, not campaigning. The Government claimed that biased informing had been counterbalanced by electoral campaigning, but failed to adduce any specific facts concerning the distribution of airtime amongst the candidates or to explain how the campaigning could possibly replace normal coverage. 106. Domestic law on media coverage of elections also lacked clarity. Although it enshrined the principle of equal reporting on all candidates, that principle was phrased in insufficiently specific terms with no indication of what type of equality was meant. That principle had become subject to arbitrary interpretation by the authorities. Thus, the federal list of candidates submitted by the United Russia party included at least 37 candidates who were heads of different federal executive authorities and regional governors. The activities of those candidates had been covered by the State media pursuant to the requirements of the above Act. Although the news items in question did not formally amount to electoral campaigning, they reported, and, as a rule, reported positively, on the activities of the officials concerned. Neither federal nor local laws had ever established any special procedure for covering the activities of officials during the electoral campaign, including the activities of those officials who were standing for election. Nor did they provide any guarantees of protection against misuse of administrative resources or protection against discrimination. (c) The Court’s assessment i. Media coverage of elections under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1: general principles 107. Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 enshrines a fundamental principle of an effective political democracy. It implies the subjective rights to vote and to stand for election (see Paksas v. Lithuania [GC], no. 34932/04, § 96, 6 January 2011). This provision also expressly refers to “conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature”. In the 1987 case of Mathieu-Mohin and Clerfayt v. Belgium (judgment of 2 March 1987, § 54, Series A no. 113), the Court noted that this part of Article 3 “implies essentially - apart from freedom of expression