Działalność partii mniejszości narodowych w Republice Serbii w latach 1990–2008

Abstract

The article discusses the organizational and program development of parties that function in Serbia and represent three national minorities: Hungarian, Bosnian, and Albanian. The timeframe of the research covers the period between the first free parliamentary elections that took place in 1990 and the elections in 2008. The aim of the article is to show some common features characteristic for the functioning of national minority parties in Serbia. The analysis focuses on the influence of the activities and strategies undertaken by this type of parties on the electoral system (and its reforms), the engagement of the Serbian authorities in conflicts on the area of the post-Yugoslavian republics in the 1990s and the principles of registering political parties. The article also presents changes in the regulations introduced in this respect based on the novelization of the act of political parties legislated on 12th of May 2009. The changes facilitate creating parties that represent national minorities which in fact favours further fragmentation.