| Guiding principle: |
Considering that the Polish authorities had acted reasonably, in order to protect the country's electoral system, the Court held, unanimously, that there had been no violation of Article 11.The Court considered that the applicants could easily have dispelled the doubts voiced by the authorities, in particular by slightly changing the name of their association and by sacrificing, or amending, a single provision of the memorandum of association. Those alterations would not, in the Court's view, have had harmful consequences for the Union's existence as an association and would not have prevented its members from achieving their objectives. Pluralism and democracy were based on a compromise that required various concessions by individuals and groups of individuals, who must sometimes be prepared to limit some of their freedoms so as to ensure the greater stability of the country as a whole. This was particularly true regarding the electoral system, which was of paramount importance for any democratic State. |