[Presenter] Here is a report on the formation of the first [national] minority self- government following local elections in Hungary in October 2002, at which local minority self-governments were also elected]. I am talking about the some 1,000 Ruthenians. Mark Kocsis reports:

[Kocsis] The National Ruthenian Minority Self-Government is expected have between 20 and 30 members if the meeting of electors today yields a valid result.

According to the electoral law, those who got into a community's self-government body as a minority candidate in the local elections can be electors. On the basis of this, 147 electors should have met in the Duna Palace, but the law makes it possible to hold local minority elections again at places where they were unsuccessful in October. In the past two months, 10 further people became electors this way, Emilia Ritko, head of the National Election Office, told "Chronicle" [this bulletin].

After a prolonged nomination procedure, the electors in today's vote will choose from among themselves the national self-government body, which will then elect a chairman within 30 days. During the census, some 1,000 people declared themselves to be ethnic Ruthenians; according to other estimates, however, some 30,000 Ruthenians live primarily in northern Hungary, Gabor Hattinger, the current chairman of the National Ruthenian Self-Government, indicated to "Chronicle".

Credit: Hungarian Radio, Budapest, in Hungarian 1100 5 Jan 03

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