• Hungarian forint
  • Budapest
  • Police news
  • HelloMagyar
Child protection referendum: supreme court on side of pro-LGBTQ groups! – UPDATEDChild protection referendum: supreme court on side of pro-LGBTQ groups! – UPDATEDChild protection referendum: supreme court on side of pro-LGBTQ groups! – UPDATEDChild protection referendum: supreme court on side of pro-LGBTQ groups! – UPDATED
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Society
  • Sport
  • Culture
  • Special Hungary
  • News To Go
  • World
  • Contact Us
  • About us
  • About us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
✕
Important
  • VIDEOS: Johnny Depp, Al Pacino popped up in Budapest office building

  • Official price list: e-vignette prices to skyrocket in Hungary in 2024

Support us
DNH 2021 DNH 2021 · 15/04/2022
· Society

Child protection referendum: supreme court on side of pro-LGBTQ groups! – UPDATED

The Kúria, Hungary’s supreme court, on Friday threw out a recent decision by the National Election Committee (NVB) under which the NVB imposed a fine on civil organisations for encouraging voters to give answers in an April 3 referendum that would render the plebiscite invalid.

According to the Kúria, the organisations condemned by the NVB had excercised their right to free expression in their campaign. The NVB had earlier accused the civil groups of “abusing the law” by telling people that they should cast invalid votes in the referendum, held at the same time as the general election, on the subject of child protection regulations.

The organisations including Amnesty International Hungary, the Rainbow Mission, gay and lesbian rights groups Háttér and Labrisz, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, gay sports association Atlasz, the Ökotárs foundation, and the Society for Freedom Rights

received a fine of 176,400 forints (EUR 470) each,

while Amnesty and Háttér were also fined 3 million forints each on the same charges but under decisions passed in different procedures.

  • Read also: Everybody supports sex reassignment surgeries for minors in this Hungarian village!

On Wednesday, the Kúria threw out Háttér’s appeal against the fines, saying that Hatter had “failed to present its arguments to prove that NVB’s decision was in violation of the law”. In its Friday decision, however, the Kúria approved appeals by all 15 organisations and threw out the complaints against them.

The Kúria said participating in referendums was a fundamental right rather than an obligation, and voters had the right to cast invalid ballots if they so chose.

“Casting an invalid vote is not an infrigement; rather, it is an expression of the voter’s decision to abstain from answering the questions posed,”

the Kúria said. It added that civil groups’ expressing their opinion or influencing voters in the campaign could “not curb the substance of a referendum or the electoral autonomy of voters”.

Though calling on voters to cast invalid voters “could go against the constitutional purpose of a referendum”, freedom of expression, especially concerning public affairs, “must enjoy special protection” and should not be curbed “unless for a reason concerning the rule of law”, the Kúria said.

“No legal stipulations contain a prohibition of campaign messages aimed at invalid voting,”

it added. The Kúria’s decision is final and binding.

UPDATE – 20.02 GMT

Commenting on today’s decision, the NGOs said in a statement that the ruling was a victory for the 1.7 million people who spoiled their ballot papers in the referendum. Concerning three out of five of the cases, certain Kúria councils ruled against the election committee’s decisions and the related fines totalling 9 million forints in respect of rendering the referendum papers invalid, the statement said. In these cases,

the Kúria also found the campaign by the NGOs legitimate and legal,

it added.

But in two of the cases, another Kúria council rejected the appeal by Hatter and Amnesty International Hungary without properly examining the case, and upheld the election committee’s fine of 3 million forints against Háttér, so both NGOs have decided to turn to the Constitutional Court in the matter, the statement said. The statement added that the NGOs involved would show solidarity to each other and pay the fine jointly, while carrying on with their appeal to overturn it.

LGBTQ
Read alsoChild protection referendum: civil groups campaigning for invalid votes must pay a fine!

Source: MTI

If you would like to support the work of the Daily News Hungary staff and independent journalism,
please make a donation here
2022 Hungarian parliamentary election Child protection referendum court Hungary
Share

Hot news

  • Wizz Air modified seats given out to passengers in an outrageous way

  • Government: EU wants to settle illegal migrants

  • What happened today in Hungary? – 1 October, 2023

  • Wizz Air announces European capital as newest destination from October

  • International Day of Older Persons: PM Orbán promises pension supplement

  • PHOTOS: Here is Hungary’s best burger

4 Comments

  1. Anonymous says:
    15/04/2022 at 23:33

    The referendum did not reach the required number of respondents (50%) by a big margin. That referendum is effectively a dead duck with no legal validity regarding the law, by law.

  2. The Realist says:
    16/04/2022 at 07:28

    Makes sense, in Canada you are allowed to scratch your ballot/make it invalid. Don’t see why the Hungarian government thought voters shouldn’t be able to do it too.

    After all, making a ballot invalid is also expressing democratic will.

  3. Tm says:
    17/04/2022 at 13:19

    Canadas a great example – you did agree with the government they will track your phone and freeze you bank account that includes all electronic transactions – thousands of peaceful protester across the country be damed – this in a country larger than all of Europe.

  4. The Realist says:
    19/04/2022 at 01:02

    @TM, did I say that everything the Canadian government does or do is great? Hopefully, you answered no as I would like if you don’t put words in my mouth. In fact, the comment I made has nothing to do with the Canadian government, but a comment about the electoral system in Canada (even though I dislike the FPTP system that we also have in Canada, regardless of which government won).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

SUPPORT US
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Must read

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive daily updates, news & stories about Hungary!

Select your location below or enter your country so we can deliver our morning newsletters to you in time.

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

.

Contact us

About us

Copyright rules

Privacy policy

Advertise with us

© 2023 DailyNewsHungary. All rights reserved! | Server and development by Svigelj Levente E.V
Wizz Air modified seats given out to passengers in an outrageous way

Wizz Air modified seats given out to passengers in an outrageous way

Read More
Government: EU wants to settle illegal migrants

Government: EU wants to settle illegal migrants

Read More
What happened today in Hungary? – 1 October, 2023

What happened today in Hungary? – 1 October, 2023

Read More
Wizz Air announces European capital as newest destination from October

Wizz Air announces European capital as newest destination from October

Read More
International Day of Older Persons: PM Orbán promises pension supplement

International Day of Older Persons: PM Orbán promises pension supplement

Read More
PHOTOS: Here is Hungary’s best burger

PHOTOS: Here is Hungary’s best burger

Read More
This city at Lake Balaton will be Hungary’s new conference hub: centre inaugurated – PHOTOS

This city at Lake Balaton will be Hungary’s new conference hub: centre inaugurated – PHOTOS

Read More
PHOTOS: Everything you need to know about Budapest’s magnificent Opera House

PHOTOS: Everything you need to know about Budapest’s magnificent Opera House

Read More
Hungary-Russia contract concerning Paks NPP upgrade still kept in secret

Hungary-Russia contract concerning Paks NPP upgrade still kept in secret

Read More
Big news for beer lovers: Hungary in top 10 European destinations for beer fans

Big news for beer lovers: Hungary in top 10 European destinations for beer fans

Read More
  • 0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
Have you read it?