26 NAMAT ALIYEV v. AZERBAIJAN JUDGMENT regard to the Final Report of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission concerning the elections of 6 November 2005 (see paragraph 55 above), which indirectly corroborates the applicant's claims. While this report did not contain any information relating exclusively to the applicant's constituency, it gave a general account of the most frequent problems identified during the election process. The problems identified were similar to almost all of the applicant's specific allegations and, while not observed in most of the constituencies, appeared nonetheless to have been quite common. 79. In the light of the above considerations, and having regard to the material in the case file, the Court considers that the applicant has put forward a very serious and arguable claim disclosing an appearance of a failure to hold free and fair elections in his constituency. 80. The Court reiterates the approach taken by it in the Babenko case (cited above) where, having satisfied itself that there had been no arbitrariness in the conclusions reached by a domestic court which had examined the applicant's specific claims concerning breaches of electoral law and established that they had not prejudiced the elections, the Court accepted and relied on the domestic court's conclusions in its analysis of the applicant's complaint under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1. It was emphasised in that case that, where complaints of election irregularities had been addressed at the domestic level, the Court's examination should be limited to verifying whether any arbitrariness could be detected in the domestic court procedure and decisions. 81. In this connection, having regard to the principles developed by its case-law on Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 (see paragraphs 70-73 above), the Court considers that the existence of a domestic system for effective examination of individual complaints and appeals in matters concerning electoral rights is one of the essential guarantees of free and fair elections. Such a system ensures an effective exercise of individual rights to vote and to stand for election, maintains general confidence in the State's administration of the electoral process and constitutes an important device at the State's disposal in achieving the fulfilment of its positive duty under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to hold democratic elections. Indeed, the State's solemn undertaking under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 and the individual rights guaranteed by that provision would be illusory if, throughout the electoral process, specific instances indicative of failure to ensure democratic elections are not open to challenge by individuals before a competent domestic body capable of effectively dealing with the matter. 82. The Azerbaijani law provided for a system of examination of individual election-related complaints and appeals, consisting of electoral commissions of different levels, whose decisions could be appealed subsequently to the Court of Appeal and further to the Supreme Court. The applicant made use of this system. It remains to be seen whether the