STRØBYE AND ROSENLIND v. DENMARK JUDGMENT
legal capacity remain legally competent and thus retain the right to vote in
general elections. Only persons fully deprived of their legal capacity do not
have the right to vote in general elections.
23. The first applicant lodged an application with a district court for a
change to his guardianship status following the statutory amendment. On
20 May 2019, the order regarding his legal incapacitation was quashed in its
entirety, and he was consequently granted the right to vote in general
elections.
24. The second applicant also lodged an application for a change to his
guardianship status. He is still subject to guardianship, but by a district court
order of 9 November 2019, he was only partially deprived of his legal
capacity pursuant to section 6(2)(2) of the Guardianship Act. Consequently,
he was granted the right to vote in general elections.
RELEVANT LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICE
A. The Constitution
25. The fundamental rules on the right to vote in general elections are set
out in section 29 of the Constitution, which, in so far as relevant, reads as
follows:
Section 29
“(1) Any person who is a Danish national, has a permanent home in the realm and
has reached the age to qualify for suffrage, as provided in subsection (2) hereof, shall
have the right to vote in general elections unless he or she has been declared legally
incompetent. It must be laid down by statute to what extent conviction [of a crime]
and public assistance amounting to poor relief within the meaning of the law will lead
to disfranchisement.”
26. The provision was first introduced in the Constitutional Act, which
was enacted on 5 June 1849. The wording of the part of the provision
stipulating that persons declared legally incompetent do not have the right to
vote was revised in 1915 and 1953.
27. The following overview can be made of the development of the
provision.
28. In 1849, section 35 set out:
“Any man of good repute and Danish nationality has the right to vote in general
elections when he attains the age of 30, unless he:[...]
(c) is barred from managing his [own] property”.
29. In 1915, section 30 set out:
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