TĂNASE v. MOLDOVA JUDGMENT 25 obliged to initiate a procedure which put him at risk of losing his Romanian nationality. Further and in any event, even before his election the knowledge that, if elected, he would be required to take steps to renounce his Romanian nationality if he wished to take his seat in Parliament undoubtedly affected him throughout his electoral campaign. He may, moreover, have lost votes since the electorate was aware that there was a chance that he would decide not to take his seat if that would mean losing his status as a dual national. Since the applicant was directly affected by the Law in question, the Court concludes that the measure has had a detrimental impact on him. 109. As to the Government’s argument that Law no. 273 required a renunciation procedure merely to be initiated, and not to be completed, the Court does not consider that this removes the applicant’s status as a victim. Although the applicant’s mandate has now been confirmed by the Constitutional Court, he was required to send a letter to the Romanian authorities requesting the initiation of a procedure to renounce his Romanian nationality, which he did. It is true that the Romanian Government have not yet taken steps to strip the applicant of his Romanian nationality. However, the conduct of the Romanian authorities is not within the applicant’s control and they have made no formal undertaking not to act upon the applicant’s request to renounce his Romanian nationality. Accordingly, they may choose at any time to complete the renunciation procedure. 110. In any event, each time the applicant wishes to stand for election to Parliament he will face the uncertainty of not knowing whether the Constitutional Court will accept that he has complied with the law and whether the Romanian Government will take steps to give effect to his request to renounce his Romanian nationality. 111. The Government’s objection as to lack of victim status is therefore dismissed. B. Non-exhaustion of domestic remedies 1. The Chamber’s conclusions 112. The Chamber rejected the Government’s objection that the applicant had failed to exhaust domestic remedies in that he had not complained to the Ombudsman, who could in turn have lodged a challenge to Law no. 273 before the Constitutional Court. The Chamber emphasised that the requirement to exhaust domestic remedies applied only to those remedies which were accessible and effective. In the present case, the remedy relied upon by the Government could not be considered effective as it was not open to the applicant to complain directly to the Constitutional Court.