Fringe parties will find it easier to get their names on ballots and to raise money following a Supreme Court of Canada decision Friday.

In a 6-3 decision, the country's highest court agreed with arguments from the Communist Party of Canada that requiring small parties to field at least 50 candidates to qualify for key electoral and financial benefits is unconstitutional.

However, the court suspended its judgment for 12 months to give the federal government a chance to rewrite the Federal Elections Act.

The law says parties must meet certain requirements to be registered as political parties, such as the 50-candidate minimum.

The Communists have operated as a political party in Canada for years, but fell below the 50-constituent threshold in the 1993 federal election. A legal challenge was successful at the trial court level in 1999, but the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned that ruling.

The relevant section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is Section 3, which says every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or a legislative assembly.

"Withholding the right to issue tax receipts and to retain unspent election funds from candidates of parties that have not met the 50-candidate threshold undermines the right of each citizen to meaningful participatation in the electoral process," wrote Justice Frank Iacobucci for the majority.

The minority opinion held that the law did violate the Charter, but that the infringement was justifiable.

"The values furthered are consistent with some of the fundamental principles of a free and democratic society and favouring large parties may not be discordant with those principles," wrote Justice Louis LeBel.

Comment from the government or the Communist party wasn't immediately available.