parliamentary representation
The participation of nationalities and national minorities in public affairs and their political representation in parliaments is the subject of several international documents (the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the Convention on the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe, the documents of the Venice Commission, the Lund Recommendations of OSCE). However, no legally binding international document regulates the issue of parliamentary representation of national minorities. In countries where the principle of positive discrimination applies, the following methods are used for promoting and ensuring the parliamentary representation of a given nationality or national minority: 1. the electoral threshold is not applied (e.g. Serbia); 2. a separate mandate is granted to a minority ethnic group (Croatia, Slovenia); 3. a preferential quota is applied (Romania). Where the principle of positive discrimination is not applied in parliamentary elections even the parliamentary representation of a national minorities with a high number of its members living in a bloc is difficult to achieve (Slovakia). The strength of the group’s internal cohesion, its level of organisation and the support of the kin-state (motherland) can be instrumental in bridging this gap. According to Act CLXXIX of 2011 on the Rights of Nationalities national minorities in Hungary establish municipal, regional and national minority self-governments. According to Act CCIII of 2011 on the Election of Members of Parliament, recognised national minorities may win a preferential national minority mandate from a national minority list or be represented in Parliament by a national minority advocate. (See also: UN Declaration on Minority Rights.)