Mrs. Ignatāne stood for Latvian local elections to be held in March 1997, as a candidate of Movement of Social Justice and Equal Rights party.
... the State party has not contested counsel's argument that Latvian law does not provide for separate levels of proficiency in the official language in order to stand for election, but applies the standards and certification used in other instances.
Therefore, the Committee concluded that "the annulment of the author's candidacy pursuant to a review that was not based on objective criteria and which the State party has not demonstrated to be procedurally correct" violated article 25 (right to participate in public life) of ICCPR, in conjunction with article 2.
[1] In 2002, the language requirements for candidates were abolished (see Podkolzina v. Latvia), but reintroduced (for elected councillors) in 2010.
The case was later cited by the Venice Commission[2] and in legal literature including Alfred de Zayas.