Parliamentary representation of minorities in romania: current challenges
Abstract
Presented article is prepared within the Research Project “Law of Political Parties” held by the faculty of Law and International Relations of Georgian Technical University. Тhe purpose of the article is to analyze the main mechanisms that guarantees the parliamentary representation of national and ethnic minorities in Romania. Authors review in detail the correlation of concept of equality principle and positive discrimination in regard with national and ethnic minorities. Clear distinction is given between Hungarian minority, as a successfully political movement and all other minorities, which were able to gain mandates only through positive discrimination. In conclusion authors underline some advantages of Romanian electoral system, but also refer to weaknesses, which should be eliminated and suggest some recommendations for possible improvements.
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This article aims to analyse the mechanisms through which the parliamentary representation of ethnic minorities is ensured in Romania. After briefly reviewing the situation in other countries from South East Europe, I turn to the case of Romania, where there is a clear distinction between the Hungarian minority (which established a highly successful political movement in 1989, UDMR) and all other minorities (which were only able to gain parliamentary representation through the positive discrimination system provided by the Romanian law). This system is then analysed in detail and the results of the 1996 and 2000 parliamentary elections are used as case studies. The Romanian system has clear strengths (such as simplicity), but also obvious weaknesses (hijacking of the minority representation being the most serious). The paper concludes with a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of the Romanian system and suggests a few possible improvements.
Hungary is developing domestic policies that aim to halt the assimilation of its national minorities and, particularly, to help overcome the traditional multiple-disadvantages of the Roma minority. Laws have been passed on the protection of the minorities, the creation of local and national minority self-governments and the office of Ombudsman for National Minorities. The situation of four of the minorities is briefly sketched - Roma, Germans, Bulgarians and Slovaks. A much larger problem in Central Europe is the position of Hungarian minorities in neighbouring states, particularly Romania, Slovakia, and Serbia. During the difficult transition from communism to democracy, from planned to market economy - and coinciding with nation state-building and the re-emergence of nationalism among minority and majority communities - the possibilities of discord have increased. Problems are examined here. Despite this, much has been achieved in less than a decade. The seeds of reconciliation between Hungary and her neighbours are slowly being sown. The ultimate, longer term, solution lies in European integration.
The primary purpose of this article is to show that despite the broad range of rights guaranteed by both the Constitution of the Republic of Hungary and the Minorities Act, discrepancies still exist between the law as it is written and how it actually works in practice.
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