22 COMMUNIST PARTY OF RUSSIA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT election campaign. However, the State bodies that had the power to institute administrative proceedings had refused to do so. As to the possibility of lodging a complaint with the court about the refusal to initiate administrative proceedings, the applicants insisted that there had been a consistent practice of rejection of such complaints. There was no effective procedure for appealing against the decisions of the CEC, which was authorised to decide whether or not to bring administrative proceedings. The law also provided for the possibility to seek revocation of the broadcasting licence of TV companies involved in unlawful campaigning, but it was a very long process and too dependent on the discretion of various administrative bodies (the prosecutor’s office, the CEC and the Ministry of Mass Media). 75. Judicial protection of electoral rights (including the right to balanced coverage) provided only for appeals against decisions and acts (or omissions) of State bodies, public associations or State officials. Hence, the statutory framework in force did not provide for a possibility of bringing a complaint about violations of electoral rights by the mass media. The Government had not referred to any domestic decision proving that such a remedy was available and effective at the relevant time. 76. In the applicants’ submission, the cases cited by the Government in support of their contention that the applicants had been able to have recourse to judicial proceedings to defend their rights were irrelevant. According to the applicants, there had been no such case during the electoral campaign in 2003. Besides, the applicants’ position was further supported by the fact that there had not been one single case that had been adjudicated to the detriment of the pro-government party United Russia or its members. The applicants argued that filing a claim in defamation was not a remedy relating to the substance of their complaint. 77. The applicants maintained that the only remedy available to them had been an application for invalidation of the election results, which they had lodged. That complaint had been considered by the Supreme Court at two instances and the final judgment delivered on 7 February 2005. However, that remedy had also proved to be ineffective on account of the numerous flaws in the proceedings before the Supreme Court. In particular, the applicants complained of selective examination of evidence by the Supreme Court (which had examined only 1.5 per cent of all video recordings and around 5 per cent of written transcripts produced by the applicants); deliberate distortion of the evidence produced by the applicants (for example, of the public statements of the then President Putin); repeated refusals of the Supreme Court to grant requests to call witnesses and adduce additional materials (for example, the applicants noted the court’s refusal to request confirmation of the accuracy of the transcripts, to obtain the results of the monitoring of media coverage, or secure attendance of more than 100 witnesses); failure of the Supreme Court to address the applicants’ argument