Home > 1.2.3 Equality and national minorities > REPORT ON CONSTITUENCY DELINEATION AND SEAT ALLOCATION
 
 
 
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Paragraph 36
 

Another reason for special constituencies is the existence of specific minorities or territories. Croatia for example has a constituency for minorities and Denmark awards special seats to the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Slovenia uses special constituencies for the Italian and Hungarian minorities. In Finland one member of the Parliament is elected in a constituency for the Åland Islands. A balanced representation of communities is provided for in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where one third of the members of the Parliament is elected from the Republika Srpska. Special constituencies may also be entitled to a non-voting MP, as it is the case in the United States House of Representative – but not the Senate -for Washington DC and the US Virgin Islands. In Mexico, since the constitutional reform published in 14 August 2001, “the drawing of single-member electoral districts must consider, whenever possible, the location of indigenous peoples and communities, in order to facilitate their political participation”. According to the Mexican Constitution, electoral districts must be based on the last population census. In light of this, of the electoral reform of 2014, and of the Protocol for the consultation of indigenous peoples and communities on electoral districting, the National Electoral Institute of Mexico reviewed the 300 electoral districts for the 2018 federal elections. This resulted in the drawing of 28 districts with more than 40% of indigenous population. The Electoral Tribunal of Mexico is currently reviewing cases related to the nomination of indigenous candidates in those districts.