ŽDANOKA v. LATVIA JUDGMENT 29 first attempted coup in January 1991, the plebiscite of March 1991 and the CPL’s collaboration with the perpetrators of the second attempted coup in August 1991 (see paragraphs 20-29, 32, 37-44 and 55-56 above). However, in exercising its supervisory jurisdiction, the Court’s task is not to take the place of the competent national authorities but rather to review the decisions they delivered pursuant to their power of appreciation. In so doing, it has to satisfy itself that the national authorities based their decisions on an acceptable assessment of the relevant facts, and did not reach arbitrary conclusions (see, for example, Vogt, cited above, § 52; Socialist Party and Others v. Turkey, 25 May 1998, § 44, Reports 1998-III; Freedom and Democracy Party (ÖZDEP) v. Turkey [GC], no. 23885/94, § 39, ECHR 1999-VIII). Furthermore, the Court will abstain, as far as possible, from pronouncing on matters of purely historical fact, which do not come within its jurisdiction; however, it may accept certain well-known historical truths and base its reasoning on them (see Marais v. France, no. 31159/96, Commission decision of 24 June 1996, Decisions and Reports (DR) 86-B, p. 184, and Garaudy v. France (dec.), no. 65831/01, ECHR 2003-IX). 97. In the present case, there is no indication of arbitrariness in the way in which the Latvian courts evaluated the relevant facts. In particular, the CPL’s participation in the events of 1991 has been established by a Supreme Court judgment in the context of a criminal case brought against two former senior officials of the party (see paragraph 32 above). Equally, the Court does not see any reason to dispute either the findings of fact made by the Riga Regional Court and the Civil Division of the Supreme Court with regard to the events of 1991 and the applicant’s standing in the CPL at the material time, or the reasons given by the Supreme Council to justify the suspension of the CPL’s activities in September 1991. It accepts the facts concerning the CPL’s role during the events of January and August 1991, as well as its activities in the wake of these events, as established by the Latvian judicial and parliamentary authorities (see paragraphs 20-29, 32, 37-44 and 55-56 above). 2. The general principles established by the case-law under the Convention (a) Democracy and its protection in the Convention system 98. Democracy constitutes a fundamental element of the “European public order”. That is apparent, firstly, from the Preamble to the Convention, which establishes a very clear connection between the Convention and democracy by stating that the maintenance and further realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms are best ensured on the one hand by an effective political democracy and on the other by a common understanding and observance of human rights. The Preamble goes on to affirm that European countries have a common heritage of political