Guidelines to Assist National Minority Participation in the Electoral Process Page: 9 governmental organisations and cultural organisations that may support or represent national minorities in a society. • The concept of freedom of association includes a number of subsidiary rights. They include: - the right to form a political party or association; the right to join a political party or association; the right to participate in the lawful activities of a political party or association. This right to participate should be elaborated to include the specific rights to canvas and campaign on behalf of a political party. • It is often best to specify these rights in the constitution rather than leave them for ordinary legislation, regulations or elaboration by the courts. • This right is often restricted by legislation. Those restrictions should be carefully scrutinised in order to ensure that they do not violate international standards or impact negatively on the effective participation of national minorities in public life. • The right to self-identification for minorities is important. In this respect, the practice of imposing “ethnic” affiliation on minorities should be discouraged. Hungary, in the case of its minority groupings, is a good example of the right to self-identification, although there have also been problems in the case of Hungary. New Zealand in the case of the Maori’s is another good example. Freedom of assembly • This freedom is closely associated with the freedom of association. It is an important freedom in the context of elections because the right to hold meetings is a fundamental part of democratic politics. The right extends to the right to protest. • This freedom should be guaranteed constitutionally. It is a freedom that is normally subject to restrictions such as the maintenance of public order. Although public order is generally regarded as a justifiable ground for the restriction of the right, the difficulty with the restriction is in its application. The determination of when the ground may be relied on to prohibit a meeting or protest is often left to state functionaries. Unless there is speedy court oversight over these decisions, the freedom may be abrogated in practice. • This freedom may also be undermined by the practice of refusing political parties or other associations representing national minorities permission to use available public facilities such as town halls etc. Freedom of expression • This freedom is one of the cornerstones of a democratic state and is fundamental to ensuring that national minorities participate effectively in public life. It is best guaranteed in the constitution of the State. Governments sometimes seek to justify restrictions of this freedom on the grounds of national security. These restrictions should be subjected to strict scrutiny to ensure the validity and the proportionality of the restriction. In particular, the effect of the restrictions on the participation of national minorities in public life should analysed.