Political Participation in the Drafted Law on National Minorities
The Office of the Slovak Plenipotentiary for National Minorities is currently preparing a law on the status of national minorities. The working group is drafting the bill on a section-by-section basis. So far, two parts of the draft law—the preamble and general provisions—have been discussed. The working group has also begun to consider the background material for the other parts of the draft, which are intended to define the institutional arrangements for the exercise of the rights of national minorities, the monitoring of compliance with them and the participation of national minorities. This article will focus on the analysis of the participation of MPs belonging to national minorities in the Slovak Parliament, which is envisaged in the Legislative Intent of the National Minorities Act and proposed in the working group’s background material on this topic. First, however, I will look at what is meant by political participation in social sciences and in the practice of international institutions dealing with the rights of national minorities.