ANATOLIY MARINOV v. BULGARIA JUDGMENT B. Merits 1. The parties’ submissions (a) The applicant 34. The applicant submitted that his exclusion from the possibility to vote in elections on the basis of a generally applicable legal provision and without an individual judicial assessment had been disproportionate and in violation of his rights under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention. 35. In the applicant’s view, his case was similar to the case of Alajos Kiss v. Hungary (no. 38832/06, 20 May 2010) in that he had lost his right to vote as a result of an indiscriminate ban under Article 42 § 1 of the Constitution (see paragraph 13 above). He submitted that there had been no individual assessment of his ability to evaluate the consequences of his actions and to make conscious choices within the context of the election procedure. His disenfranchisement had been based solely on the fact that he had been placed under partial guardianship. 36. The applicant submitted that the proportion of adults placed under guardianship in Bulgaria and therefore affected by the voting restriction at issue was comparable to that in Hungary – estimated at 0.75% of Hungary’s voting-age population and discussed in the case of Alajos Kiss (cited above, § 39). He considered those figures to be relevant as they took into consideration not only persons under partial guardianship, but also persons placed under full guardianship – all of who were denied the right to vote. The applicant added that the proportion of persons under partial guardianship in Bulgaria amounted to about 0.014 % of the voting-age population. 37. Lastly, the applicant agreed with the third-party intervener (see paragraph 42 below) that the exclusion of disabled people, including those suffering from mental disorders, from the possibility to vote in elections was in contravention of international standards (see paragraph 16 above). He echoed the observations of the intervener that the Contracting States were gradually implementing reforms aimed at recognising the right of suffrage of all disabled people and that the implementation of such reforms everywhere was only a matter of time. (b) The Government 38. The Government submitted that the applicant had voluntarily placed himself in a situation where his right to vote was limited under the relevant national legislation; he had done this by failing to comply with the Ruse Regional Court’s instructions to identify himself as the defendant in the case before it and to provide an address at which he could be summoned (paragraphs 7-9 above). 39. The Government furthermore emphasised the fact that the right to vote was not absolute and could be subject to a number of restrictions. The 9