-7II. ORGANISATIONAL AND LEGAL ISSUES a. The Convention and its Protocols 10. Following ratification by Liechtenstein in September 1991, the number of Parties to the Convention remained at twenty-three for more than two years. However, the Convention was ratified by Hungary on 4 November 1993 (followed by Slovenia in February 1994, and Bulgaria and Slovakia in May 1994). To date, 27 of the 32 member States of the Council of Europe4 have ratified the Convention. 11. Further, on 4 November 1993, two Protocols amending the Convention were opened for signature. At present, only member States of the Council of Europe may become Parties to the Convention. Protocol No. 1 "opens" the Convention by providing that the Committee of Ministers may invite any nonmember State to accede to it. The CPT welcomes this development (cf. the 1st General Report; CPT (91) 3, paragraph 86). Protocol No. 2 introduces amendments of a more technical nature. Provision is made for members of the CPT to be placed in one of two groups for election purposes, the aim being to ensure that one half of the Committee's membership is renewed every two years. The need for the introduction of such a system had been stressed by the CPT in previous General Reports (see, for example, CPT/Inf (93) 12, paragraphs 24 and 25). The Protocol also provides that members of the CPT may be re-elected twice, instead of only once as at present. This amendment was requested by the CPT in a letter addressed to the Secretary General on 20 April 1993, the aim being to achieve a balance within the Committee between relatively new members and members with more experience of the CPT's activities. The Committee is most grateful that its requests on these two matters have been accepted. 12. The two Protocols shall only enter into force when all Parties to the Convention have agreed to be bound by them. To date, 9 (out of a total of 27) Parties have so agreed, and 12 others have signed the Protocols subject to ratification5. The CPT hopes that those Parties to the Convention which have not yet done so will rapidly agree to be bound by the Protocols. 4 See Appendix 1 A for the state of signatures and ratifications of the Convention. 5 See Appendix 1 B and C for the state of signatures and ratifications of the Protocols.