50 ŽDANOKA v. LATVIA JUDGMENT – DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE ROZAKIS “49. Such a restrictive interpretation [that Article 3 does not give rise to an individual right] does not stand up to scrutiny. According to its Preamble, Protocol No. 1 ensures ‘the collective enforcement of certain rights and freedoms other than those already included in Section I of the Convention’; furthermore, Article 5 of the Protocol provides: ‘as between the High Contracting Parties the provisions of Articles 1, 2, 3 and 4 ... shall be regarded as additional Articles to the Convention’, all of whose provisions – including Article 25 – ‘shall apply accordingly’. Moreover, the Preamble to Protocol No. 4 refers, inter alia, to the ‘rights and freedoms’ protected in ‘Articles 1 to 3’ of Protocol No. 1. Nor do the travaux préparatoires of Protocol No. 1 disclose any intention of excluding the operation of the right of individual petition as regards Article 3, whereas for a long time the idea was canvassed – only to be finally abandoned – of withholding the subject from the Court’s jurisdiction. The travaux préparatoires also frequently refer to ‘political freedom’, ‘political rights’, ‘the political rights and liberties of the individual’, ‘the right to free elections’ and ‘the right of election’. 50. Accordingly – and those appearing before the Court were agreed on this point – the inter-State colouring of the wording of Article 3 does not reflect any difference of substance from the other substantive clauses in the Convention and Protocols. The reason for it would seem to lie rather in the desire to give greater solemnity to the commitment undertaken and in the fact that the primary obligation in the field concerned is not one of abstention or non-interference, as with the majority of the civil and political rights, but one of adoption by the State of positive measures to ‘hold’ democratic elections.” Coming now to the findings of the majority which are pertinent to the concrete case before us, my main observation concerns the nature of a parliamentarian’s functions in a democratic society. The Court correctly points out, in paragraph 117 of the judgment, that “the criterion of political loyalty which may be applied to public servants is of little, if any relevance, to the circumstances of the instant case, which deals with the very different matter of the eligibility of individuals to stand for Parliament. The criterion of ‘political neutrality’ cannot be applied to members of parliament in the same way as it pertains to other State officials, given that the former cannot be ‘politically neutral’ by definition.” Indeed, the role of a parliamentarian is totally different from all the other roles played by those involved in public matters, including the members of the executive when they exercise their administrative function. In a representative democracy parliamentarians represent, by definition, the opinions and the positions of their electorate – that is, those who have voted for them. They replace them in expressing opinions and positions within and outside Parliament, and, theoretically, act instead of them in a system which, by definition, is not a direct democracy. It is obvious that in this system of representative democracy not everyone can claim to validly represent others. There are at least two safeguards which secure the direct accountability of parliamentarians in faithfully expressing their electorate’s broad wishes: firstly, the safety valve of the democratic election (candidates