As a result, the Greens, the Left Alliance, the Social Democrats and the Swedish People’s Party attached a dissenting opinion to the statement, which was forwarded to the Parliament’s Constitutional Law Committee. The committee will use the opinion as a basis for its own opinion on the bill, which is scheduled to be introduced and voted on by lawmakers in mid-February.
Pekonen said that the differences of opinion between the factions in the committee were related to the conditions for entering the electoral list of Sámi assemblies.
The government has demanded that voting and candidate elections based on Lapland’s old land, population and tax register allow the removal of sections. Eligibility for the electoral roll should instead be based solely on the applicant’s mother tongue, which the government believes will promote the Sami people’s right to self-determination.
The proposal has also aroused opposition among the indigenous population, but last autumn the Sámi assemblies voted in favor of the proposal with 15 in favor and 3 against.
The bill also differs from the current legislation in the sense that it would only comment on the right to vote in Sámi parliamentary elections, instead of defining who is a Sámi. According to STT, it would also strengthen the authorities’ obligation to act and take into account the rights of the indigenous population.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page