50 of joining a political party so that the latter would postulate him as a candidate to elected office; (ii) the possibility of political party postulating him, without his need to belong to it (external candidate); and (iii) the possibility of creating his own political party. In this regard, it added that there is “increasing flexibility in the requirements and procedures to constitute political parties”; this had resulted in two new parties, which were competing for the first time in the 2006 federal elections, legitimizing their registration by obtaining 2% of the national vote and acceding to seats in the Legislature; that the COFIPE obliges “political parties to incorporate in their statutes and internal rules of procedure, the democratic procedures for the renewal of their administrative organs as well as norms for the democratic postulation of their candidates,” and “the Federal Electoral Institute and the Electoral Tribunal are responsible for monitoring and sanction procedures to ensure that everything is carried out in accordance with the law and democratic principles.” Consequently, it concluded that the regulation of this aspect “is not […] an excessive mechanism or one that curtails the passive right to vote.” 195. The representatives did not expressly allege that the exclusivity of nomination by the political parties was the most restrictive or disproportionate measures to regulate the right to be elected. Their arguments were directed essentially at showing that a provision of domestic law applied in this case was contrary to the American Convention and to justify the need to adopt the system of independent candidacies. 196. To assess the proportionality of the measure that is alleged to be restrictive of the right to be elected, the Court must examine the existing alternatives to regulate this right, which are equally appropriate to the regulation that is considered to violate the Convention, and must define the greater or lesser harm of the human right that is restricted. 197. As indicated, the American Convention, like other international human rights treaties, does not establish the obligation to implement a specific electoral system. Nor does it establish a specific mandate on the mechanism that the States must establish to regulate the exercise of the right to be elected in general elections (supra paras. 149 and 162 to 166). 198. The Court observes that, in comparative electoral law, the regulation of the right to be elected, as regards the registration of the candidacies, may be executed in two ways: by the system of registration of candidates exclusively by the political parties, or by the system of registration of candidacies by the political parties, together with the possibility of registering independent candidacies. In the region, there is a certain balance between the States that have establishes the system of registration exclusively by parties and those that also allow independent candidacies. 199. The States whose laws recognize the possibility of registering independent candidacies establish various requirements for their registration, some of them similar to those established for candidacies registered by political parties. A common requirement for the registration of independent candidacies is the backing of a certain number or percentage of voters who support the registration of the candidacy, which is essential to organize the electoral process effectively.66 In addition, the States establish other requirements such as 66 In some States of the region, the following has been required to register such candidacies: a number of citizens registered that is no less than 0.5% of the citizens that voted in the previous election for Deputies (Chile); the support of signatures that equal 5% of registered voters (Ecuador); the names of citizens representing 2% of voters in the Republic (Honduras); supporters who represent no less than 4% of the citizens who can vote at the national level (Peru); statements of support signed by a number of registered voters that equals 0.5% of the voters in the circumscription in question (Venezuela).