Judgment concerning Iceland
In the case of Guðmundur Gunnarsson and Magnús Davíð Norðdahl v. Iceland the ECHR held that there had been a violation of the right to free elections and of the right to an effective remedy in conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention.
The case concerned alleged irregularities in the recount of votes in the Northwest constituency in the 2021 Althingi election, subsequent changes in the allocation of levelling seats, and the examination of the post-election complaints by Althingi. The applicants were the unsuccessful candidates in that constituency.
The Court found that while the procedure for the examination of the applicants’ complaints by Althingi had been fair and objective and had guaranteed a sufficiently reasoned decision, it had lacked the necessary impartiality safeguards and had been characterised by virtually unrestrained discretion.