GUIDELINES TO ASSIST NATIONAL MINORITY PARTICIPATION IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS January 2001 I. INTRODUCTION The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) commissioned a group of internationally recognised experts to elaborate Recommendations on the Effective Participation of National Minorities in Public Life (called the “Lund Recommendations”).1 Support for the Lund Recommendations, as a valuable reference, has been expressed within the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)2 and expressly endorsed by the HCNM. In order to give better effect to those Recommendations, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) proposed that practical guidelines be developed in respect of the four recommendations concerning elections.3 The objectives of the guidelines are: • to make effective the participation of national minorities in public decision making bodies by means of enhanced representation. • to inform all stakeholders of: - the options open to a state in giving effect to the Recommendations - the advantages and disadvantages of the different options - to provide advice on constitutional, legislative and institutional means to realise those options • to assist the OSCE participating States and ODIHR in ensuring coherence of application in the practice of States of the standards upon which the Lund Recommendations were developed. The guidelines were developed by the ODIHR in conjunction with International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and the Office of the HCNM. They are the result of extensive discussion4 and input from experts5 in the field. It is important to stress that the guidelines do not address all of the Lund Recommendations – only those that relate to the work of the ODIHR in respect of elections. 1 2 3 4 5 These guidelines are based on the Lund Recommendations dated June 1999. For an account of the impetus and process of their elaboration, see John Packer, "The origin and nature of the Lund Recommendations on the Effective Participation of National Minorities in Public Life", Helsinki Monitor, Volume 11, No. 4, 2000, pp. 29-45; the full text of the Lund Recommendations appears in annex to the afore-mentioned article at pp. 46-61. IBID. pp. 64-67 The project was possible with a generous contribution from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). A discussion document in the form of draft guidelines were prepared by Peter Harris and Halton Cheadle on behalf of International IDEA. The draft was the subject of intense discussion and input from experts assembled by ODHIR at a workshop held on 3-4 July 2000 in Warsaw. A second draft was prepared and again scrutinised by the ODHIR, the Office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities and the independent experts before being finalised. The experts were: Dr. Vojin Dimitrijevic, Director of the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Dr. Yolanta Hristova, Expert on Minority Rights, OSCE Mission to Croatia, Dr. Jessie Pilgrim, Legal Consultant, USA, Dr. Alexander Postnikov, Researcher, Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law, Russian Federation, Dr. Andrew Stephen Reynolds, Assistant Professor, University of Notre Dame, USA, Dr. Timothy Sisk, Senior Research Associate, Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, USA, Mark Stevens, Program Director, Electoral Reform International Services, United Kingdom.