An interview of candidates to the Slovenian elections on the Roma problem (along other topics).
The Roma issue in southeastern Slovenia remains one of the most pressing issues in the region, which has been causing social tensions, security incidents and differences in the development of individual areas for many years. That is why, before Sunday’s parliamentary elections, Social Democrats candidates from Dolenjska were asked about this issue and presented their views on the recently adopted Šutar’s law. Their answers show that they see the law as a necessary step, but they also warn of its limitations and risks.
Bad.
This week, the only articles on Roma concern the municipal elections being held in France on March 12th and all of these articles concern Roma in Nantes who are trying to have a say in those elections. Apparently, they massively registered to vote (as they can in France). The only other articles are a squat being closed in Lyon, and one from the extreme right Breizh Info on a so called reportage in the largest slum in France.
After a complaint by the ERRC, the Montenegrin Onbudsman wants to reform the registration rules that he sees as biased against Roma.
The portrayal of migrants in Toni Okamura’s SPD election campaign is similar to how members of other races and social classes were portrayed in Nazi and communist propaganda, the Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) said. In today’s decision, it was critical of the SPD campaign, but it still rejected the complaint of a voter from the Central Bohemian Region. It failed to prove grossly influencing the election result, which is a condition for possible court intervention. According to the NSS, the SPD campaign speaks more about the movement itself, other parties could have reacted to it and voters ultimately made up their own minds. The decision is temporarily available on the official noticeboard.
A comment by a romano activist, Michal Mižigar on the support of many Roma, among which some prominent ones for the extreme right motorist party and his top representative Philip Turek.
A commentary on the outcome of the recent elections in Czechia. Babiš’ party, while coming first in the elections doesn’t have enough seats to form a government. His possibility is to align and enter a coalition with extreme right parties which are profoundly racist. In addition, they are pro-Russian and anti-EU, which the majority of the Czech electorate is not.
According to the findings of Romea.cz, at least sixteen Romani men and women ran for the Chamber of Deputies in this year’s elections, which represents the highest number since the beginning of systematic monitoring of Romani participation in elections. Nevertheless, none of them managed to penetrate the lower chamber of Parliament. The most successful Roma candidate was Josef Tokár (SPOLU, South Bohemia), who received 1,335 preferential votes. Jaroslav Miko (STAN, Prague) finished in second place with 818 votes, and Milan Sýs (Stačilo!, Pardubice Region) took the imaginary third place, who received 598 votes.
In Pazardzhik, Bulgaria, there are local mayoral elections. Apparently, the DPS party has not been doing well recently in the town, but their candidate is “activating” the Roma vote. Whatever this means, as in Bulgaria, there have been allegations of vote buying among Roma since a long time.
Czech Roma are becoming more interested in elections every year. According to estimates, about 150 thousand of them have the opportunity to vote. The prevailing opinion in society is that many mainly vote for Andrej Babiš’s ANO party, but Ľavica is also popular.
Another article about the lack of Romano representation in the parliament of Montenegro. The problem is somewhat more complex than the article states: Reserved seats for minorities are pretty much useless, and traditional parties shun Roma representatives.
This requires action from the Roma community which, in many countries has a close to 10% voting block, to act.
Roma conservative politician Josef Tokár is running in the South Bohemian Region for the SPOLU coalition in 21st place on the candidate list. In the pre-election special of the SODAcast podcast, he talked about his journey to the ODS, why he decided to enter politics, and also about the problems he considers key – from education to discrimination to migration and the Green Deal.
Roma must learn to understand their vote as an option, not as a lost hope – even a bad decision is better than none. This was emphasized in the pre-election special of the SODA podcast by Jan Dužda, a Roma activist and Roma regional coordinator for Prague. In a debate with SODAcast authors Patrik Banga and Zdeněk Ryšavý, he spoke about the barriers to Roma entering politics, low turnout, and the need for voter education.
The Roma Council in Montenegro informed that, based on the Law on Minority Rights and Freedoms and the Rules for the Election of Members of the Council of Minority Peoples, on 01.08.2025. it published a public call for applications for electors to participate in the electoral assembly for the election of members of the 5th convocation of the Roma Council. According to them, 27 applications for electors have arrived.
The small Roma minority is not really represented in the Montenegro parliament.
The President of the Roma Council of Montenegro, Mensur Šalaj, criticized the latest changes to the electoral legislation, stating that key measures that would enable the political participation of the Roma community at the state level have been omitted.
“We consider it completely unacceptable that our appeal for reducing the electoral threshold so that the Roma community could have an authentic representative in parliament has been ignored for years,” said Šalaj.
He particularly criticized minority political parties, which, according to him, show neither solidarity nor political will to support this initiative.
In this article, a “Gypsy” pastor agitates his people from the Druzhba district to vote in the by-elections for Yasen Rusev the PP-DB mayoral candidate. Marin Tikhomirov became famous after a pre-election event in the “Filipovtsi” district, to which he personally invited several politicians.
The Burgas District Court has overturned a verdict issued by the Pomorie District Court, by which the mayor of the Pomorie village of Bata, Georgi Georgiev, was found not guilty. The court found him guilty and sentenced him to ten months in prison, postponing the execution of the imposed sentence for a probationary period of three years.
Georgiev was found guilty of giving sums of money in the amount of 50 leva to S.R., I.Ch., Z.B. and M.S. in Bata in early April 2021, in order to persuade them to exercise their right to vote in the parliamentary elections in favour of a certain political coalition.
Threats to the Roma minority have increased since the far-right won the presidential election, which was cancelled at the end of 2024. But on the second round on Sunday, May 18, many Roma are paradoxically ready to vote for these ultranationalist candidates.
In the Ušti nad Labem region, in the last parliamentary elections, many Roma preferred Andrej Babiš (ANO). Now, after many years, they have their own candidate, who, thanks to the communists, can get into the Chamber of Deputies. “Kateřina Konečná gives us a historic chance, but Roma voters must help me,” says 44-year-old Marco Cavali and thanks the KSČM chairwoman for the opportunity, who confirmed him as the electoral three on the Stačilo! candidate list in the Ústí nad Labem region. However, Cavali has been insolvent since 2022, but he does not consider financial problems an obstacle to electoral success.
A podcast on Roma engaged in fighting against the extreme right in Romania on the eve of the new presidential elections.
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