4 “...Transparency in government activities, probity, responsible public administration on the part of governments, respect for social rights, and freedom of expression and of the press.” In the absence of progress in clarifications such as these, which the American community has adopted consensually, it is evident that the said right to take part in the conduct of public affairs would be frozen in time, and not reflect the changing requirements of the democracies in our region. 18. The second component of political rights, as expressed in Article 23 of the Convention, is “to vote and to be elected in genuine periodic elections, which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot that guarantees the free expression of the will of the voters” (underlining added). This provision refers us to one of the fundamental requirements of representative democracy that has inspired the normative and purposes of the inter-American system since its conception. It stresses that elections should be genuine and periodic and also the characteristics of the vote: universal, equal and secret, in order to comply with a requirement that is also mentioned in Article 23: to guarantee the free expression of the will of the voters. It is evident that, unless this essential ingredient is present, other forms of participation would be weakened as they would not encounter, in elections, a way to build strong democracies for assuming and exercising public office. 19. In this judgment, the Court has revealed clearly the findings that lead it to conclude that, in this case, the State of Nicaragua has violated the norm cited in the preceding paragraph. Consequently, I refer to this reasoning and these conclusions. In this regard, Article 23 is very clearly formulated and the proven facts show that this violation occurred. Nevertheless, taking into account the complexities of political processes in general, and of electoral processes in particular, it cannot be ignored that the components established in the said provision of Article 23 are, at this point in juridical evolution, insufficient and the countries of the inter-American system have understood this. 20. The wealth of the political, social and juridical processes that the region has undergone has been expressed in a parallel process of refinement of the fundamental characteristics of electoral processes and the vote of the citizen. The varied and eventful course of the political processes has revealed that, in order to guarantee “the free expression of the will of the voters,” the component of “universal and equal suffrage by secret ballot” was essential but, also, insufficient, given the very different threats and difficulties posed by the reality. Thus, the difficulties – or facilities – of access to means of communication, the complexities in the registration of candidates or the characteristics of the electoral rolls, became serious problems in a context in which, owing to the new political context, “universal and equal suffrage by secret ballot” no longer appeared to be an issue. 21. Therefore, as in other components of the political rights mentioned in Article 23(1) of the Convention, the fundamental concept of the “free expression of the will of the voters” has been enhanced by important institutional evolutions in domestic law and in the inter-American system itself in light of which this general provision of the Convention must be interpreted and applied, with regard to both the rights of the citizens and the obligations of the State. As regards the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs, the Inter-American Democratic Charter has summarized and expressed the current consensual status in the inter-American system with regard to the “free expression of the will of the voters.” 22. Indeed, the Charter reiterates principles that coincide in general with the contents of the Convention when it indicates that: “Essential elements of representative democracy include, inter alia, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, access to and the exercise of power in accordance with the rule of law, the holding of periodic, free, and fair elections based on secret balloting