Minority representation in electoral bodies helps national minorities to express their views when legislative measures and public policies of relevance to them are formulated. Exemptions from threshold requirements necessary for participation in elected bodies have proved useful to enhance national minority participation. In the view of the Advisory Committee, due attention should also be paid to the design of constituency boundaries. Administrative reforms should not result in the decrease of possibilities for minorities to be elected in constituencies. The Advisory Committee considers that the setting-up of reserved or shared seat systems in parliament do not automatically provide for effective minority participation and minority elected representatives should be given a real possibility to influence decisions–making. It is seen as positive if special parliamentary committees dealing with minority-related issues are set up in parliaments and if minority languages are used in these committees. The Advisory Committee considers that language proficiency requirements imposed on candidates of local and parliamentary elections are not conducive to effective participation. Under the Framework Convention, state parties should ensure that minorities have adequate opportunities to effectively participate in election campaigns and through political parties. This may imply the display of electoral advertising in minority languages. Internal democratic processes for the selection of candidates of mainstream political parties are crucial in ensuring minority participation. Prohibition of ethnic political parties is incompatible with the principles of the Framework Convention if conditions for their registration are disproportionate and unreasonable. As to participation at a local level, states are encouraged to provide non-citizens belonging to national minorities with a possibility to vote and to stand as candidates in local elections and in cultural governing boards of autonomies. The electoral system for autonomy arrangements should provide for protection against possible abuses. The Advisory Committee has also examined the functioning of minority consultative mechanisms. They are an important tool for enhancing minority participation but cannot fully replace minority electoral arrangements. Appropriate attention should be paid to the inclusiveness and repesentativeness of the consultative bodies, including the participation of numerically smaller minorities. Their appointment procedures and working methods need to be made transparent.