NEWSLETTER No. 4

The law on the protection of rights and freedoms of national minorities was adopted in February, and the By-Laws on the work methods of the Electoral Assembly for the election of national minorities’ councils in July this year. So far the following national councils have been formed: Bulgarian, Hungarian and Vlach. At the beginning of next year, the Roma will also have their national council, consisting of 35 members.The members of the Roma National Council will be the Roma representatives from all parts of Yugoslavia.

The national council represents the interests of a national minority and represents them in the fields of culture, education, official use of language and informing. Through it, minorities exercise their right to self-management in these fields by participating in the decision-making process or by the very decision-making on the issues from the above stated fields and by founding suitable institutions.

A single national minority can elect only one national council, in accordance with the procedure and in the manner regulated and controlled by the Federal Ministry for National and Ethnic Communities.

The national council members are elected by electors-representatives of the relevant national minority.

Who can be an elector?

An elector can be a representative of a minority, if he is Member of Parliament of an Autonomous Province, Republic or FRY, if he is elected candidate of a political organisation of the minority and if he speaks the language of the minority.

An elector can be a representative of a minority if he is member of the Municipal Assembly, where the language of the minority is the official language.

An elector can be a representative of a minority if he is proposed to be elector by a national organisation or association of the minority.

An elector can be a representative of a minority if his candidacy is supported in writing, on the form of the Ministry, by at least a hundred representatives of the national minority.

The date and place of the Electoral Assembly are set by the Federal Ministry for National and Ethnic Communities through its decision, at the request of the representatives of a certain national minority to be given the right to be electors. Their number varies according to how big the national minority is. In case of the Roma, the number amounts to 40 requests for electors. The considered number of representatives must comply with the latest census.

The Ministry has 30 days in its disposal for making its decision, from the day of receiving the request, and the Electoral Assembly is held  within the period not shorter than 30, or longer than 120 days from the day of making the decision. The date and place of the Electoral Assembly are announced by the Ministry in the mass communication media, along with a public invitation to all the electors to duly sign up with the Ministry.