40 TĂNASE v. MOLDOVA JUDGMENT can be no justification for hindering a political group solely because it seeks to debate in public the situation of part of the State’s population and to take part in the nation’s political life in order to find, according to democratic rules, solutions capable of satisfying everyone concerned. Similarly, in the present case, the fact that Moldovan MPs with dual nationality may wish to pursue a political programme which is considered by some to be incompatible with the current principles and structures of the Moldovan State does not make it incompatible with the rules of democracy. A fundamental aspect of democracy is that it must allow diverse political programmes to be proposed and debated, even where they call into question the way a State is currently organised, provided that they do not harm democracy itself (see Socialist Party and Others v. Turkey, 25 May 1998, §§ 45 and 47, Reports 1998-III, and Manole and Others v. Moldova, no. 13936/02, § 95, ECHR 2009). 168. With this in mind, the Court turns to consider whether the measure in the present case was genuinely intended to secure loyalty to the State as alleged by the Government. In this regard, the Court observes that Law no. 273 was the third aspect of an electoral reform package, whose other measures consisted of raising the electoral threshold and banning electoral blocs (see paragraph 37 above). All the measures proposed had a detrimental impact on the opposition, which had previously found it difficult to secure enough votes to meet the threshold to enter Parliament and had succeeded in doing so only through the formation of electoral blocs (see paragraphs 31 and 33 above). The results of the April 2009 elections, in which of the 101 MPs elected, 21 were negatively affected by Law no. 273 and all 21 were opposition MPs (see paragraph 59 above), demonstrate the disproportionate effect of the new Law. The applicant’s allegation that the Law exempts from its scope the residents of Transdniestria, a large number of whom hold Russian nationality, raises further concerns about the true aim of the legislation (however, see further paragraph 187 below concerning the ambiguity surrounding this exemption). Finally, the Court considers it significant that the amendments were introduced less than a year before the general elections (see paragraph 44 above). Following the April 2009 elections, a further amendment was introduced to the electoral legislation, which was again criticised by opposition parties as being intended to improve the prospects of the governing party and its political allies (see paragraph 63 above). In this regard, the Court refers to the Venice Commission Code of Practice in Electoral Matters, which warns of the risk that frequent changes to electoral legislation or changes introduced just before elections will be perceived, rightly or wrongly, as an attempt to manipulate electoral laws to the advantage of the party in power (see paragraph 86 above). It is also significant that the Monitoring Committee and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe expressed concern at the changes to the electoral legislation, which they considered