While it is not directly relevant for presidential elections, Art. 3 of Protocol 1 to the ECHR, providing that “the High Contracting Parties undertake to hold free elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot, under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature” applies to electoral rights concerning national parliaments and other “legislatures”. According to the European Court of Human rights, the term “legislature” does not necessarily mean the national parliament alone: it has to be interpreted in the light of the constitutional structure of the State in question. Municipal councils, district councils and regional assemblies may be covered by Article 3 Protocol 1 if they possess inherent primary rulemaking powers and form part of the legislature (see a contrario Mółka v. Poland (dec.)); generally speaking, however, the power to make regulations and by-laws, which is conferred on the local authorities in many countries, is to be distinguished from legislative power, including at the regional level, so that the scope of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 does not cover local elections, whether municipal (Xuereb v. Malta; Salleras Llinares v. Spain) or regional (Malarde v. France).