Reserved Seats

In the majority of the electoral systems, it is not envisaged of specific representation of certain minorized groups. There exist however several alternatives where minorities by law lay out of reserved seats within an elected assembly,

is by fixed quota: of office X seats
is by floating quota: if the minority has did not obtain any elected official, it is to him of office allotted a seat
is notwithstanding the electoral Seuil: the lists representing a recognized minority can send one, or several, appointed (S) even if it does not reach the electoral threshold required for the other lists or political parties

Fixed quotas

Afghanistan

The electoral legislation of application for the legislative elections of September 18th, 2005 in Afghanistan provides that on the 249 seats of Wolesi Jirga (Room of the people) 10 are reserved for the wandering community of Kuchis, among which 68 stood as a candidates. On the whole, 68 seats are reserved to the women, including 3 among the seats kuchis

Principal article: reserved Seats (Afghanistan)

Belgium

At the Parliament of the Area of Brussels-Capital, the Flemish minority had seats only according to its electoral importance of 1989 to 1999, that is to say from 10 to 11 out of 75. At the time of the elections of June 2004, a new fixed scale was applied (in result of the Accords of Lambermont): 72 French-speaking elected officials and 17 Flemish elected officials.

Principal article: reserved Seats (Area of Brussels-Capital)

Croatia

The Croatian Parliament account 152 members, including 140 elected officials in the electoral constituencies, 8 by the minorities and 4 by the diaspora.

Fiji

Principal article reserved Seats (Fiji)

Iraq

No legal text mentions quotas or seats reserved for the various ethnic and religious components of the Iraqi population to the elected National Assembly on January 30th, 2005, put aside a general wish that all " are equitably représentées" , without concrete legal translation.

Principal article: reserved Seats (Iraq)

Iran

Following the constitutional revolution of 1906 in Iran, a Parliament (majlis) is set up and includes seats reserved for the recognized religious minorities (people of the book): Christians, Jews and zoroastriens. The new Iranian constitution installation following the Islamic revolution of 1979 takes up the idea, and in each of the 7 majlis elected since 1980 per 4 years sits 2 Armenian Christians thus, 1 Assyrian Christian (or assyro-chaldéen), 1 Jew and 1 zoroastrien.

Principal article reserved Seats (Iran)

Jordan

Principal article: reserved Seats (Jordan)

Lebanon

With the Lebanon, where the assemblies elected or named for the Othoman period and under the French mandate were it already on a basis of denominational representation since the middle of the 19th century, all the parliamentary seats are distributed according to a key preestablished in 1943 (Pacte national) and modified in 1989 (Accord of Taef) between the various denominational communities of the country.

Principal article: reserved Seats (Lebanon)

Macedonia

August 30th, 2007, the government Macedonian announced a legislative modification aiming at creating 13 seats reserved for the Parliament, 4 for the Turkish minority, 2 for the Romanian minority, 2 for the Serb minority and 1 for each smallest minority aroumaine and bosniaco-Moslem woman. Three seats in addition will be allotted to the diaspora Macedonian, 1 for Australia, 1 for Europe and 1 for the United States. The number of seats at the Parliament will pass thus from 120 to 133.

Pakistan

Palestine

The Palestinian Autorité inherited the Organization of the Ottoman Empire the existence of reserved Sièges with the Palestinian Legislative council where six seats are reserved for the Chrétiens and for the Samaritains.

Principal article: reserved Seats (Palestinian Authority)

Slovenia

The Slovenien National Assembly (Državni Zbor) account 90 members, elected for a 4 years mandate. 88 are elected to the poll proportional (system Of hondt) and 2 by the ethnic minorities (Borda system), that is to say the Italians and the Hungarians.

Floating quotas

India

Principal article reserved Seats (India)

Maurice

The National Assembly counts 66 direct elected officials and between 4 and 8 representatives of the ethnic minorities and religious indicated by the Supreme court according to a system called of the " better perdants" among the not elected candidates of the parties or electoral alliances represented at the Parliament.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, the Option maorie provides that any voter can be voluntarily registered on a list of voters maoris (Maori roll) which will determine the number of seats reserved for this ethnic minority at the Parliament. That at all does not prevent however candidates maoris from being made elect in the general electoral category, since they were not registered on the list of voters maoris.

Exemption from the electoral threshold

Germany

The system in force in the German Länder of the the Schleswig-Holstein and the Brandebourg constitutes an alternative of the seats reserved, since for the left representing a recognized ethnic minority, the Danish and the Frisons in the first case, the Sorabes in the second, it is derogated from the electoral rule of the threshold of 5%, below which a party cannot be represented with the Landtag.

Poland

The parties must obtain 5% of the votes (8% for the coalitions) to be able to be represented with the Polish Parlement. The parties representing of the ethnic minorities are not concerned with this quorum, which explains why the electoral Committee of the Germanic minority could obtain 2 seats by obtaining that 0,3% of the seats.

Romania

The House of Commons counts 332 members elected in electoral constituencies by the vote for all. The standard of representation is of a deputy for 70.000 inhabitants. The Constitution of Romania and the Electoral law confer on the organizations citizens belonging has national minorities, with the case or those could not have obtained with the elections at least a mandate of member of Parliament, the right has a mandate of deputy, if they obtain on the level of all the country a number of votes from at least 5% of the median number of votes validly expressed for the election of a deputy at the national level. The mandates allotted to the organizations of the citizens belonging to the national minorities, under the conditions fixed by the Electoral law, are added to the mandates of deputies resulted from the standard of representation.

Serbia

The 250 representatives with the Serb Parlement are elected for a 4 years legislature by the universal direct suffrage; each declared party produces a single list candidates for all Serbia and receives a number of representatives proportional to the number of votes reached in all the country; however, are taken into account only the votes coming from the districts where it obtains at least 5% of the voices. This last condition is not however necessary for the parties being recorded as started from ethnic minorities which need only 0,4% of the voices.

Seats reserved in not elected institutions

With the Supreme court of Canada, three judges out of nine are, by convention, originating in the Quebec.

Sources

Random links: