TĂNASE v. MOLDOVA JUDGMENT 19 nationality; in Bulgaria, holding dual nationality is permitted. The Constitution of a fourth country, Malta, provides that a person shall not be qualified for election to the House of Representatives “if he is a citizen of a country other than Malta having become such a citizen voluntarily or is under a declaration of allegiance to such a country”; it is not entirely clear whether the provision applies to non-nationals or to multiple nationals. In any case, there are no known examples of the provision being enforced and it is not clear whether it was intended that the limitation remain in force after the law was amended to permit dual nationality in Malta in 2000. Romania, which permits dual nationality, lifted its ban on dual nationals becoming MPs in 2003. 88. In Latvia, there is no prohibition on MPs having dual nationality but a person with dual nationality cannot be elected president. It should be noted that dual nationality is prohibited in principle under Latvian law, although it is allowed in certain limited circumstances. Monaco restricts citizens from becoming members of the Conseil National if they hold public or elected office in another State. Portugal prohibits non-resident dual nationals from becoming MPs for the constituency covering the territory of their other nationality. 89. In short, three member States of the Council of Europe – Bulgaria, Malta and Moldova (subject to the ambiguity outlined above) – currently allow dual nationality but prohibit dual nationals from becoming MPs. In addition, Azerbaijan and Lithuania, which prohibit dual nationality, also prohibit dual nationals becoming MPs. Of these four other countries, Azerbaijan and Lithuania have not signed the ECN; Bulgaria has lodged a reservation in respect of Article 17 of the ECN; and Malta has signed, but not ratified, the ECN. 90. Twenty-seven States other than Moldova allow dual nationality. In nineteen member States, dual citizenship is prohibited in principle. Dual nationality is prohibited in Ukraine. 91. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania prohibit dual nationality. According to the census for the year 2000, there were around 200 dual nationals in Estonia. There are around 700 dual nationals in Lithuania. No figures are available for Latvia. Around a quarter of the population of Estonia and Latvia is ethnically Russian. 92. In the States of the former Yugoslavia, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” allow dual citizenship, although Croatia and Slovenia seek to exclude it for naturalised citizens. In Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, dual nationality is permitted only in respect of States with which a bilateral agreement has been concluded. The populations of most of these States are ethnically mixed. Montenegro (43% Montenegrin; 32% Serb; 8% Bosniak; 17% other) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (48% Bosniak; 37.1% Serb; 14.3% Croat; 0.6% other) have the most ethnically mixed populations, followed by “the former Yugoslav

Select target paragraph3