Guidelines to Assist National Minority Participation in the Electoral Process Page: 8 • Although it is common for constitutions to limit the right to vote to citizens, that restriction may constitute a source of conflict in respect of states that have national minorities or large populations composed of non-citizens if it is framed in a manner that discriminates against national minorities. There are many causes for this potential conflict. They range from the manner in which citizenship requirements are stated in the law (for example limiting citizenship to an ethnic group to making it administratively difficult to become a citizen). In essence, citizenship should not be used in a way that discriminates against persons belonging to national minorities. • Eligibility criteria for registration as a voter may also have consequences for national minorities. Restricting the right to vote to residents in a constituency will impact negatively on nomadic peoples. The inclusion or exclusion of external voters may also effect national minority participation adversely. The right to regular and fair elections • Elections must not be regular only, they must be held at reasonable intervals. constitutions elections are held from between 2 to 5 years. In most • The right to a secret ballot is fundamental to a fair election. It is particularly important in societies with national minorities. It follows that the state must take all necessary steps to ensure that voters belonging to a national minority trust that their votes are secret. In this respect regard should be had for paragraph 7.4 of the Copenhagen Document which details that participating States will “ensure that votes are cast by secret ballot or by an equivalent free voting procedure.…” • Elections must be fairly conducted. There are two aspects to this right. The elections must not only be fairly conducted but must be seen to be so. The legitimacy of the election process is especially important in societies with ethnic tension and high levels of distrust. • There are different institutional and procedural ways in which states can ensure that elections are fairly conducted. The different options are considered in paragraph 7 below. The right to stand for office • The right to stand for public office should be constitutionally guaranteed. Restrictions on the right should be carefully scrutinised in order to ensure that persons belonging to national minorities are not barred from office or standing for office. While language regulations may be established for the proceedings of public institutions, including parliamentary institutions, the exclusion on linguistic grounds of anyone to stand for office is in violation of Article 25 of the ICCPR and, more simply, interferes with the freedom of the electorate to choose their representatives.17 For example, language requirements may have the effect of excluding candidates from national minorities from standing for office. Freedom of association • This freedom is important for two reasons. It should guarantee not only the right to form political parties but also guarantee the formation of organs of civil society such as non- 17 There are well known examples of elected representatives who are visually, aurally and orally impaired. Moreover any such linguistic requirement becomes highly problematic in terms of prescribing and testing proficiency.