Minorities have been generally well represented in the Romanian parliament. Both components of the electoral system used in the Romanian case - proportional representation (PR) and reserved seats (RS) - proved to be important in allowing minorities to secure their representation in the parliament. A demographically large minority group - the Hungarians - has been consistently successful in gaining representation through the PR channel. Smaller minority groups benefited from the reserved seat provisions. The reserved seat provisions for minorities, which are the most extensive in Europe, allowed a large number of minority groups to send representatives to parliament. The design of electoral institutions, however, has not so far helped the country's most disadvantaged minority community, the Roma, to achieve representation that would be approximately proportional to the group's demographic weight. The Roma remain considerably underrepresented. To access the document, please go to:
