Election 2014 – Unity Opposition Demands Authorities Investigate Voter Data

Budapest, April 3 (MTI) – The left-of-centre opposition Unity alliance has called on Tibor Navracsics, the justice minister, to instruct the relevant authorities to examine new registrations for addresses over the past few months, suspecting possible vote-rigging ahead of the April 6 general election.

Jozsef Tobias, the Socialist Party’s deputy parliamentary group leader, told a news conference on Thursday that he had asked to meet Navracsics on Friday with concerns that the number of voters registered in certain swing districts had grown recently.

The opposition alliance has also called for registration offices to be kept closed on the day of the election.

Gergely Gulyas, a lawmaker of ruling Fidesz, said that Hungary’s current election rules included more guarantees than previously for the “uninfluenced, impartial and fair” administration of the election.

Gulyas insisted that the possible penalties would deter anyone from changing their permanent address to cast their ballot in a different constituency. Nor does recent data indicate that voters would resort to such practices.

The “accusations from the Left” lack any basis, Gulyas added.

Think-tank Szazadveg said in Thursday that the official statistics available do not support the claim that registrations for permanent addresses have grown due to the election.

Publicly posted data of the public administration and electronic public administration centre (KEKKH) at www.nyilvantarto.hu show that changes in address have fallen by 40 percent on average in the quarter preceding the election compared with the same period a year before.

Photo: mszp.hu

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters