1 million Roma not to have a representative in the Hungarian Parliament – VIDEO

Nobody knows how many Roma people live currently in Hungary. Official censuses show that 310 thousand Roma live in the country, but it is hard to believe. Many do not identify themselves as Roma since they speak Hungarian and belong culturally to the Hungarian majority. In-depth calculations and sociographic analysis estimate that at least 850-900 thousand Roma people live in Hungary. However, they will not have an MP in the 2022-2026 parliament even though they could have given 5-10 pc of the National Assembly. We tell you why below.

Based on research published by the University of Debrecen and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2018, the number of Roma people living in Hungary grew from 400 thousand to 876 thousand. That calculation was based on research conducted between 2010 and 2013, so the actual number is probably even higher.

According to an in-depth analysis on azonnali.hu, published in 2019, that number could have grown to 950 thousand by then. The fertility rate among Roma women is much higher than among Hungarians. Therefore, the article argues that, in 2034,

there will be more Roma children than Hungarian in Hungary.

As a result, the Roma will quickly become the major ethnic group in Hungary. The trend does not seem to reverse despite the government’s family allowances.

• Read more: Are Hungarians really this discriminative towards their neighbours of ethnicity?

Even though there are almost 1 million Roma residents, who could give even 5-10 pc of the Hungarian Parliament, they will not have a representative in the next National Assembly. That is because their minority self-government could not nominate candidates on 31 January. The delegates of their general assembly picked a fight during the event. Meanwhile, the final deadline for the nomination was on 1 February. Check out what happened in the video below:

Based on the Hungarian legal framework, each of the 13 acknowledged ethnic minorities can send one representative to the parliament. They can receive the same salary as the elected MPs, hire employees to help their work, or rent offices anywhere in the country. However, they do not have the right to vote. 

On the other hand, all the 13 ethnic minorities can send an MP into the Hungarian Parliament. Provided their list gets at least 0.27 pc of the total ballot number cast on party lists. In 2018, that number was 23,829 votes, and only the German list reached it.

Therefore, Imre Ritter became an MP of the German minority living in Hungary.

The Hungarian Romas got only 5,703, so they could send only a Roma representative into the parliament.

• Read more: Government: Roma integration programs in Hungary were successful

On 31 January, the self-government of the Hungarian Roma community held a sitting. However, the delegates could not agree on the rules of how they would like to assemble their minority list – hvg.hu reported. Based on the law, the list has to contain at least three names. The first will become a representative and even an MP if they get enough votes. However,

if there are no names, there cannot be a list, so there will be no representative in the parliament.

Népszava said that the general assembly of the Hungarian Roma’s self-government put János Agócs instead of Félix Farkas on the top of their list last November. However, Lungo Drom, a government-close Roma organisation, attacked that decision. The Budapest court rejected the application, but the Constitutional Court accepted it and abolished the November decision. That is why the organisation had to repeat the election, which would have happened on 31 January.

However, they could not reach an agreement, so the Hungarian Roma will not have a representative in the next parliamentary session. That is why the leadership of the Roma self-government plans to propose the body’s dissolution.

Read alsoHungarian Hospital fined for discriminating against Romani mothers

Source: ksh.hu, azonnali.hu, hvg.hu