Anti-Corruption Alliance submits nine further anti-graft referendum questions

Former LMP lawmaker Gábor Vágó submitted nine new referendum questions aimed at combatting corruption to the National Election Office (NVI) on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference in front of the NVI’s Budapest headquarters, Vágó, who is secretary of the Anti-Corruption Alliance, noted that on Tuesday parliament voted to extend the statute of limitations on corruption crimes to 12 years. Vágó had initiated a referendum on the extension but after the ruling parties expressed support for it, the proposal was submitted to parliament.

“Referendums are the Achilles heel of Fidesz’s regime,”

Vágó said, arguing that if a referendum were to be held, the ruling parties “would be confronted with the public anger caused by their governance”.

One of the questions submitted by Vágó proposes that the position of chief public prosecutor should be a single-term position. Vágó said that

Péter Polt, the public prosecutor, was at the centre of the “spider web of the system of corruption”.

Another question seeks to establish a rule under which the chief public prosecutor could not be a former member of a political party and their relatives would not be allowed to work at the central bank.

Vágó also submitted a question aimed at prohibiting lawmakers from heading the tax office and preventing parliamentary immunity from applying in cases in which a lawmaker uses a vote to commit a crime of corruption.

Another question is aimed at barring the prime minister’s relatives from bidding for public projects.

The same question would also ask voters if prime ministerial candidates should be required to release their medical and psychological records.

Photo: Wikipedia Commons

Source: MTI