CCPR/C/72/D/884/1999 page 8 objective of the complaint, namely, to allow the author to stand in the Riga City Council elections in 1997 by restoring her name to the electoral list. 5.11 Counsel maintains that the State party contradicts itself when it says, on the one hand, that it cannot agree that domestic remedies have been exhausted, since neither of the two possible remedies it mentions for verifying the appropriateness of the author’s certificate has been used, and, on the other hand, that, according to the communication, the author challenges the legality of striking her off the list of candidates but not the SLB’s opinion that her proficiency in Latvian was not of the required level 3. In any case, each of the procedures mentioned by the State party to verify the appropriateness of the author’s certificate takes several months at least and therefore would not have allowed the author to stand in the 1997 elections. In that regard, counsel recalls that the decision to bar the author was taken 26 days before the elections. Time constraints precluded any effort on the author’s part to avail herself subsequently of any other legal remedy. The Committee’s deliberations concerning admissibility 6.1 Before considering any claim contained in a communication, the Human Rights Committee must, in accordance with rule 87 of its rules of procedure, decide whether or not it is admissible under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 6.2 The Committee observes that the State party contests the admissibility of the communication on the grounds that domestic remedies have not been exhausted, since the author did not contest the SLB’s conclusion that her knowledge of the language was not of the required standard, but contested the Election Commission’s decision to strike her off the list. The Committee cannot agree with the State party’s argument that this shows that the author had not exhausted the available remedies, since at the time the author was in possession of a valid, legally issued certificate demonstrating her knowledge of the official language to the required standard, which the State party itself does not contest. 6.3 The Committee also notes counsel’s arguments that the remedies listed by the State party are not effective remedies and that the State party has not proved that they are effective or indeed contested counsel’s arguments. The Committee also takes account of counsel’s comment that the remedies listed by the State party take several months to reach a conclusion in any case and to have exhausted them would have meant that the author would not have been able to stand in the elections. The Committee notes that counsel’s reactions were brought to the attention of the State party, but that the latter did not respond. Under the circumstances, the Committee considers that there is no impediment to the admissibility of the communication. 6.4 The Committee therefore declares the communication admissible and decides to proceed to an examination of the case on its merits, in accordance with article 5, paragraph 2, of the Optional Protocol.