This article aims to analyse the mechanisms through which
the parliamentary representation of ethnic minorities is
ensured in Romania. After briefly reviewing the situation in
other countries from South East Europe, I turn to the case of
Romania, where there is a clear distinction between the
Hungarian minority (which established a highly successful
political movement in 1989, UDMR) and all other minorities
(which were only able to gain parliamentary representation
through the positive discrimination system provided by the
Romanian law). This system is then analysed in detail and
the results of the 1996 and 2000 parliamentary elections are
used as case studies. The Romanian system has clear
strengths (such as simplicity), but also obvious weaknesses
(hijacking of the minority representation being the most
serious). The paper concludes with a discussion on the
advantages and disadvantages of the Romanian system and
suggests a few possible improvements.