Historic limitations on the right to passive suffrage to those who belong to certain races or certain ethnic or cultural groups have been eliminated in systems that deserve to be considered democratic. Nevertheless, cases still persist in which particular posts are reserved for such groups.
These are affirmative actions aimed at assuring representation of minority groups. Examples can be found in the constitutions of India and some of the states that form part of the Indian Federation (see Reservation of Number of Seats for Minorities in India), Canada (see Communities of Interest in Canada), and some Latin-American countries.
One must distinguish between provisions which, in effect, aim to assure the representation of specific groups from those which, in reality, reflect a negative discrimination that should be repudiated. One example of this was the South African apartheid regime, in which two special chambers were incorporated, one for citizens of Indian origin and one for other ethnic groups, but, in any event, blacks were excluded.
The reservation of seats and candidacies to certain ethnic or cultural groups is aimed at guaranteeing the presence of some members of those groups in the relevant chambers. This is an exception to the modern conception of representation, in which the those elected are representatives of the nation and not of sectors, communities or cultural, political or economic groups. However, some of the cases quoted actually reflect a constitutional aim to integrate defined communities that might otherwise run an obvious risk of political marginalization. A common way of avoiding this possibility is to limit positive discrimination to a period of time during which the cause that justified it must be overcome.
