KERIMOVA v. AZERBAIJAN JUDGMENT 9 Electoral Code, which did not allow invalidation of election results if it was established that any irregularities discovered during the election process had been made to assist the candidates who had not been ultimately elected, and not the winning candidate. 39. The applicant noted that out of sixteen protocols which had been allegedly tampered with only five contained impermissible alterations of the total vote counts of candidates. The remaining protocols contained alterations of a “technical nature” which did not affect the figures on the total number of votes cast, and therefore could not impede the determination of the true will of the voters. 40. As for the Government's argument concerning the alleged impossibility of a recount of votes, the applicant noted that the Government's reference to former Article 106.3.6 of the Electoral Code was wrong, because that provision concerned only the original count of the votes in polling stations at the end of election day, when the envelopes containing the ballots were first taken out of the ballot boxes, and did not concern any subsequent recount of votes in the presence of the CEC members. In any event, the applicant considered that on the facts of the case there was no need for a recount, for the simple reason that her victory in the election could be established beyond any doubt even from the protocols tampered with in favour of her opponents. 41. The applicant submitted that there were no legitimate grounds for invalidation of the election results. Such a decision in the present case meant in essence that the domestic electoral system allowed one random person to frustrate the opinion of tens of thousands of voters simply by introducing minor alterations to election protocols. This in turn gave the current Government the opportunity to prevent opposition candidates from becoming members of parliament by simply having an electoral official tamper with an election protocol in order to render the results of the election null and void, and subsequently escape with a very lenient penalty for doing this. In this connection, the applicant noted that the ConEC chairman who had been found guilty of ruining the election results had received a very mild punishment in the form of a small fine and, despite his conviction, was reinstated to work in the public service in 2008. 2. The Court's assessment 42. Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 appears at first sight to differ from the other rights guaranteed in the Convention and Protocols, as it is phrased in terms of the obligation of the High Contracting Party to hold elections which ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people rather than in terms of a particular right or freedom. However, the Court has established that it guarantees individual rights, including the right to vote and to stand for election (see Mathieu-Mohin and Clerfayt v. Belgium, 2 March 1987, §§ 46-51, Series A no. 113). The Court has consistently highlighted the