37 State authorities should, to an appropriate degree, also put in place public service television and radio programmes in minority languages devoted to election campaigns and other consultative processes. This leads to more effective communication between the authorities and minorities, and eventually to greater participation by minorities in public life. The use of minority languages in public meetings, campaign materials and media appearances by electoral authorities – and mainstream politicians – represents a positive step in reaching out to minority voters. Linguistic requirements for voting or political participation must be non-discriminatory. Excluding individuals from voting or running for office because of their language, or lack of fluency in a state’s official language, has extremely serious consequences. It precludes participation in public life and would generally be discriminatory. Denial of citizenship through language requirements can be an insurmountable obstacle to participation in the public life of a state. If it is arbitrary or unreasonable, a language requirement could be considered discriminatory in the case of minorities.59 Good practices • For federal elections in the United States, 10,000 or more minority members or 5 per cent of a census district is sufficient to require the use of a minority language in voting materials and voting assistance. These include voting announcements, publicity, information and even oral assistance. Voting materials and assistance are provided in more than 12 languages in the USA to remove obstacles to the effective exercise of the right to vote and to encourage participation in public life. Voter registration is also possible in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese. • In India, the same considerations and the use of a multitude of languages under Union, state and local laws and regulations result in the use of more than 30 languages throughout the country. • In Croatia, voters belonging to minorities can either vote for a general national list or for specific minority lists. Larger communities such as the Hungarian, Serbian and Italian minorities each have one seat, while the smaller minorities are grouped together to elect one deputy among themselves. • In New Zealand, electoral information is provided in 26 languages, including sign language. • In the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the creation of an electoral district encompassing Shuto Orizari, where members of the Roma minority are concentrated, has permitted the election of a representative from that community. • In the United Kingdom, in addition to English, sufficient fluency in Scottish Gaelic or Welsh satisfies the language requirements for citizenship; in Canada, French in addition to English may be required. • In Switzerland, proficiency in German, French, Italian or Romansh is sufficient in terms of the language requirements for citizenship. • In Norway, electoral information is provided in eight languages, including in the Samí language. Voting ballots are also available in the latter for elections to the indigenous Samí Parliament. • Bolivia, Ethiopia, Finland, Paraguay, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa and many others provide electoral material and information in a number of minority languages. 59 Costa Rican Naturalisation Case (note 17).