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European court throws out UK case on alleged Russia vote meddling

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday rejected a case brought by three MPs who had accused the British government of failing to fight Russian electoral interference. The ECHR's ruling follows a claim lodged by a cross-party group of three MPs after the High Court in London rejected the case in 2021. They claim the failure of the government to investigate "credible allegations" of interference in the electoral system had breached its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights that protects the right to free and fair elections. The trio -- Ben Bradshaw, of the Labour party, Caroline Lucas, of the Green Party and Alyn Smith of the Scottish National Party (SNP) -- were part of a group of six who lost a bid to bring a High Court challenge in June 2021 against former prime minister Boris Johnson over his alleged "failure" to probe possible Russian interference in UK elections. The complaint focused on the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, the 2016 Brexit referendum and the 2019 general election. The UK parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) in 2020 said it could not come to firm conclusions about any Russian meddling. But its report said Johnson's government "took its eye off the ball", and critics pointed to his Conservative party's links to wealthy Russian donors as one explanation for official inaction against Moscow. In its ruling, the ECHR said it sided with the British government that had argued that applicants could not be considered "victims" of any alleged government law violation. They had failed to produce evidence that they had been "personally and directly" affected by any state failings, or that "the very essence" of the electoral process had been impaired. "States should not remain passive when faced with evidence that their democratic processes are under threat," the court conceded in its verdict. But they also had to be accorded "a wide margin of appreciation" on how to deal with such threats, and the UK's response "did not fall outside the wide margin of appreciation afforded to it in this area", the court said. The court did, however, note that "there were undoubtedly shortcomings in the government's initial response". The ECHR is charged with ruling on violations of the European Convention of Human Rights, ratified by 46 countries. jh/ah/giv