UN expert decries near 'tyranny' in US against minority voting rights

GENEVA - A United Nations human rights expert said on Monday that electoral laws in some parts of the United States including Texas may undermine democracy by depriving millions of citizens who belong to minority groups of the equal right to vote.

Fernand de Varennes, the UN special rapporteur on minority issues, speaking on the final day of a two-week visit to the United States, decried a Texas law that he said resulted in "gerrymandering" and dilution of voting rights of minorities in favour of white Americans.

"There is in fact what could be described as an undermining of democracy with a phenomenal number of legislative measures in different parts of the country...which certainly have the effect of making the exercise of the right to vote more difficult for certain minorities," he told a news briefing.

"It is becoming unfortunately apparent that it is almost a tyranny of the majority where the minority right to vote is being denied in many areas," he added.

De Varennes called for a "New Deal" to overhaul legislation. There was no immediate US reaction to his preliminary observations which de Varennes said he had shared with US State Department officials earlier in the day.

Reuters