Abstract: The article examines the reasons for the formation of new institutions, which represents national minorities in contemporary parliamentary legislation. This process was particularly intense in the first two decades of the XXI century, as it is reflected in national constitutional reforms, as well as in changes of international law. However, the article argues that the Russian constitutional law is not ready for the reception of these institutions, because it is characterized by the regulation of the legal status of minorities, precluding their collective political participation. Unlike the majority of the studies of this issue, the author proves the correlation between the legal doctrine of the nation and the decision on the admissibility (inadmissibility) of the separate representation of national minorities. The conclusion is made that "the revolution of minorities" in the parliament is a natural stage in the development of the systems of public representation in the countries with continental law system. The revision of the classical principles of parliamentarism means commitment to the fundamental idea of the nation as a legal entity. Also, it is argued that the productive reform of electoral and parliamentary legislation is only possible if there is a distinction of the forms of representation of traditional ethnic minorities on the one hand, and indigenous peoples, on the other hand.
Keywords: nation, national minorities, system of public representation, ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples.