77 IN RELATION TO ARTICLES 1(1) AND 2 THEREOF (RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN GOVERNMENT AND RIGHT TO EQUAL PROTECTION) 178. Arguments of the Commission With regard to the violation of Article 23 in relation to Articles 1(1) and 2 of the Convention, it alleged that: (a) The candidates presented by YATAMA for the municipal elections of November 5, 2000, in the RAAN and the RAAS were prevented from participating in the elections as a result of the resolution issued by the Supreme Electoral Council of Nicaragua on August 15, 2000. They did not have access to an effective recourse that would have allowed them to exercise their fundamental political rights. “The voters in the Atlantic Autonomous Region of Nicaragua were prevented from choosing between the candidates and electing those presented by the YATAMA indigenous party”; (b) “The exercise of political rights, including the right ‘to be elected,’ implies that the bodies responsible for monitoring their practice and fulfillment must act in accordance with the rules of due process and that their decisions are subject to review.” Electoral bodies must guarantee the exercise of political rights “through the independence and impartiality with which they exercise their functions”; (c) “In international law, in general, and in inter-American law, in particular, special protection is needed for the indigenous people to be able to exercise their rights fully and on an equal footing with the rest of the population. Also, it may be necessary to establish special measures of protection for the indigenous people, in order to ensure their physical and cultural survival,” and to ensure their effective participation in the decision-making processes that affect them; d) Article 23 of the American Convention should be interpreted in light of the normative provisions of the Constitution, the Statute of Autonomy of the Atlantic Coast, and the Municipalities Act, which tend to strengthen the political participation of the indigenous people; (e) Despite the norms of a constitutional and legal nature that recognize the right of the Atlantic Coast communities to live and evolve under the forms of social organization that correspond to their historical and cultural traditions, the 2000 Electoral Act obliged the indigenous communities of the Atlantic Coast to constitute themselves into political parties. Even though Article 71 of this law states that the natural form of organization and participation of the indigenous organizations will be respected so that they may form regional parties, “in practice, they must submit to the same rules applicable to the non-indigenous regional or national electoral parties.” The members of YATAMA complied with the requirements of the Electoral Act; (f) The Electoral Act divested part of the population of some of their rights based on their ethnic origin; and (g) It requested the Court to declare that Nicaragua was responsible for the violation of Article 23 of the Convention, in relation to Articles 1(1) and 2 thereof, to the detriment of the candidates for the positions of mayors, deputy