39 universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot that guarantees the free expression of the will of the voters, and (iii) to have access to the public service of his country. 145. Article 23 contains various norms that refer to the rights of the individual as a citizen; that is, as titleholder of the decision-making process in public matters, in his capacity as a voter by means of his vote, or as a public servant; in other words, to be elected by the people or by appointment or designation to occupy a public office. In addition to possessing the particularity of dealing with rights recognized to the citizen, as distinct from almost all the other rights established in the Convention that are recognized to every person, Article 23 of the Convention not only establishes that its titleholders must enjoy rights, but adds the word “opportunities.” The latter implies the obligation to guarantee with positive measures that every person who is formally the titleholder of political rights has the real opportunity to exercise them. As the Court has previously indicated, it is essential that the State create optimum conditions and mechanisms to ensure that political rights can be exercised effectively, respecting the principle of equality and non-discrimination.53 146. Political participation can include widespread and varied activities that people perform individually or within an organization in order to intervene in the appointment of those who will govern a State or who will be responsible for conducting public affairs, as well as to influence the development of State policy using direct participation mechanisms. 147. Citizens have the right to play an active role in the conduct of public affairs directly through referenda, plebiscites or consultations or through freely elected representatives. The right to vote is an essential element for the existence of a democracy and a way in which citizens freely express their wishes and exercise the right to participate in government. This right implies that citizens can decide directly and elect freely, in conditions of equality, those who will represent them in decision-making in public affairs. 148. Political participation by exercising the right to be elected supposes that citizens can postulate themselves as candidates in conditions of equality and that they can occupy public office subject to election if they are able to achieve the necessary number of votes. 149. The right and opportunity to vote and to be elected embodied in Article 23(1)(b) of the American Convention is exercised regularly in genuine periodic elections by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot that guarantees the free expression of the will of the voters. Over and above these characteristics of the electoral process (genuine periodic elections) and of the principles of the suffrage (universal, equal, secret, that reflect the free expression of the will of the people), the American Convention does not establish a specific mechanism or a particular electoral system by which the right to vote and to be elected must be exercised (infra para. 197). The Convention merely establishes certain standards within which the States legitimately may and must regulate political rights, provided that these regulations comply with the requirements of legality, are designed to fulfill a legitimate purpose, and are necessary and proportionate; that is, they are reasonable according to the principles of representative democracy.54 150. Lastly, the right to have access to public office in general conditions of equality protects access to a direct form of participation in the design, development and execution of State policies through public office. It is understood that these general conditions of equality refer to both access to public office by popular election, and to appointment or designation. 53 54 Cf. Case of Yatama, supra note 49, para. 195. Cf. Case of Yatama, supra note 49, para. 207.