ŽDANOKA v. LATVIA JUDGMENT 27 fully re-established, any action against the said Declaration or against the State system founded by it had to be considered unconstitutional. The Government also disputed the applicant’s assertion regarding the existence of a constitutional diarchy during the events of 1991. 89. In addition, the applicant’s disqualification had the aim of protecting the State’s independence and national security. Referring in that connection to the resolutions adopted in April 1990 by the CPL’s 25th Congress, the Government noted that that party had always been hostile to the restoration of Latvia’s independence and that one of its main aims had been to keep the country within the Soviet Union. Accordingly, the very existence of a State Party to the Convention was threatened in the instant case, and granting access to the bodies of supreme State power to individuals who were hostile to that State’s independence would be likely to compromise national security. 90. Furthermore, the restriction in question was proportionate to the legitimate aims pursued. The impugned disqualification was not applicable to all those individuals who had officially been members of the CPL after 13 January 1991, but only to those who had “acted” or “actively participated” in the party’s operations after the above-mentioned date, that is, to persons who, in their administrative or representative functions, had threatened Latvia’s democratic order and sovereignty. This restrictive interpretation of the electoral legislation had in fact been imposed by the Constitutional Court in its judgment of 30 August 2000. 91. In the present case, the applicant’s hostile attitude to democracy and to Latvia’s independence had been clear since the CPL’s 25th Congress, during which she chose not to align herself with the dissident progressive delegates, opting instead to remain with those who supported the “hard-line” Soviet policy (see paragraph 17 above). Equally, the Central Committee for Supervision and Audit had a leading position in the CPL’s internal structure and the applicant was a member of a sub-committee responsible for supervising implementation of the party’s decisions and policies. The majority of decisions taken by CPL bodies reflected an extremely hostile attitude to the re-establishment of a democratic and independent republic. In that connection, the Government referred once again to the statement issued by the CPL’s Central Committee on 13 January 1991, establishing the Latvian Public Rescue Committee and aimed at usurping power, even though they admitted that the applicant herself had not been present at the Central Committee’s meeting on that date. In short, as one of those responsible for supervising implementation of the CPL’s decisions, the applicant could not have failed to oppose an independent Latvia during the period in question. 92. Although the applicant’s position within the CPL sufficed in itself to demonstrate her active involvement in that party’s activities, the domestic courts had nonetheless based their reasoning on the extent of her personal responsibility rather than on a formal finding regarding her status in the