Izbori i delotvorno učešće nacionalnih manjina u javnim poslovima
Elections and the Effective Participation of National Minorities in Public Affairs

Author(s): Vladimir Đurić
Subject(s): Electoral systems, Ethnic Minorities Studies
Published by: Institut za uporedno pravo
Keywords: Elections; Effective Participation; Public Affairs; National Minorities; Affirmative Action Measures
Summary/Abstract: In this paper the author analyses the possibilities of effective participation of national minorities in public affairs through the existing electoral models. The effective participation of national minorities in public affairs in Republic of Serbia is facilitated in two ways - through the affirmative action measures in electoral legislation for all levels of elections, and through self – government (cultural autonomy) of national minorities in the fields of the use of language and script, education, information and culture in which the national minorities are represented by their national councils. The conclusion is that the affirmative action measures ensure the effective political participation of national minorities, especially through removal of electoral threshold for the state and local elections, but they are not uniform, and the result of the combination of majority and proportional elections for the Assembly of Vojvodina can be that national minorities are under or over – represented in that body. The elections for national councils are based on hybrid solution – the combination of direct and indirect elections. That creates the unsustainable model which is not based on the principles of the rule of law and on international or comparative standards of minority protection.

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