36
MAGYAR KÉTFARKÚ KUTYA PÁRT v. HUNGARY JUDGMENT
in enactments of lower rank than statutes (see Association Ekin v. France,
no. 39288/98, § 46, ECHR 2001-VIII). A law which confers a discretion is
thus not in itself inconsistent with the requirement of foreseeability,
provided that the scope of the discretion and the manner of its exercise are
indicated with sufficient clarity, having regard to the legitimate aim of the
measure in question, to give the individual adequate protection against
arbitrary interference (see Gillow v. the United Kingdom, 24 November
1986, § 51, Series A no. 109).
95. That said, it is not for the Court to express a view on the
appropriateness of the methods chosen by the legislature of a respondent
State to regulate a given field. Its task is confined to determining whether
the methods adopted and the effects they entail are in conformity with the
Convention (see Magyar Helsinki Bizottság v. Hungary [GC], no. 18030/11,
§ 184, 8 November 2016).
96. The Court would also reiterate that in proceedings originating in an
individual application under Article 34 of the Convention, its task is not to
review domestic law in the abstract but to determine whether the way in
which it was applied to the applicant gave rise to a breach of the Convention
(see Perinçek v. Switzerland [GC], no. 27510/08, § 136, ECHR 2015
(extracts), with further references).
97. Moreover, a margin of doubt in relation to borderline facts does not
by itself make a legal provision unforeseeable in its application. Nor does
the mere fact that a provision is capable of more than one construction mean
that it fails to meet the requirement of “foreseeability” for the purposes of
the Convention. The role of adjudication vested in the courts is precisely to
dissipate such interpretational doubts as remain, taking into account the
changes in everyday practice (see Gorzelik and Others v. Poland [GC],
no. 44158/98, § 65, ECHR 2004-I). At the same time, the Court is aware
that there must come a day when a given legal norm is applied for the first
time (see, mutatis mutandis, Kudrevičius and Others v. Lithuania [GC],
no. 37553/05, § 115, ECHR 2015).
98. As regards the scope of the notion of foreseeability, it depends to a
considerable degree on the content of the instrument in question, the field it
is designed to cover and the number and status of those to whom it is
addressed (see, among many other authorities, Delfi AS, cited above, § 122,
and Gorzelik and Others, cited above, § 65).
99. The electoral context takes on special significance in this regard,
given the importance of the integrity of the voting process in preserving the
confidence of the electorate in the democratic institutions. Accordingly, the
Court has found wide and unpredictable interpretations of legal provisions
governing elections to be either unforeseeable in their effects or indeed
arbitrary and therefore incompatible with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 (see
Kovach v. Ukraine, no. 39424/02, §§ 48-62, ECHR 2008; Lykourezos
v. Greece, no. 33554/03, §§ 50-58, ECHR 2006-VIII; and Paschalidis,