STRØBYE AND ROSENLIND v. DENMARK JUDGMENT to disenfranchisement. The issue of the franchise of legally incompetent persons was further considered in more detail in connection with the readings and enactment of the Guardianship Act, which came into force in 1996. Most recently, Parliament had a robust debate in 2016 (in respect of a potential amendment to section 29(1) of the Constitution) concerning legally incompetent persons’ right to vote during the readings of the bill that ultimately bestowed upon them the right to vote in elections for the European Parliament and in local and regional elections. It appears from the report of that parliamentary debate that the 2016 Parliament did not have a political majority among its members for a constitutional amendment concerning the right to vote under section 29(1) of the Constitution. Only a small minority of twenty-one MPs from two parties (from a total of 179 MPs) expressed a desire to work towards such an amendment to the Constitution. Such a process is time-consuming, and history has shown that it has been difficult to reach the required voter turnout in referendums, despite the political majority in Parliament for other proposed amendments to the Constitution. 62. Since 1849, the Elections Act has also continuously attracted political attention and has been adapted, reflecting developments in society, to bestow the right to vote in general elections upon as many persons deprived of their legal capacity as possible. 63. Upon its enactment in 1996, the Guardianship Act instantly reduced the size of the group of persons who were deemed to be legally incompetent and consequently disenfranchised in general elections. In 1990, just under 3,300 persons had been declared legally incompetent, and in December 2017 about 1,850 persons had been deprived of their legal capacity. An additional purpose of the 2019 amendments to the Guardianship Act and the Parliamentary Elections Act was to reduce the size of the group of persons disenfranchised owing to the deprivation of their legal capacity as far as the Constitution allowed. 64. It was likewise the purpose of the 2016 amendment, by which the right to vote in elections for the European Parliament and in local and regional elections was bestowed upon persons who had been deprived of their legal capacity, that the right to vote should be bestowed upon this group of persons to the extent possible under the Constitution. 65. The rules governing suffrage for persons deprived of their legal capacity have thus been considered, discussed and adapted on a regular basis in order to grant the right to vote to the greatest extent possible, as far as the Constitution allowed. 19