DK against voting rights for those who have ‘never lived in Hungary’

Holders of Hungarian citizenship who have never lived in Hungary should not be allowed to participate in national elections, the leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) said on Tuesday.

DK deputy head Ágnes Vadai insisted that “rights and obligations should go hand in hand; no other people should vote than the ones bearing the consequences”.

Vadai suggested that the government supported Romania’s ethnic Hungarian community in the hopes of their voting for ruling Fidesz, “as they did” in 2014, at the latest parliamentary election. Vadai quoted remarks by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and said that

Romania Hungarians “could expect further funds (from Hungary) only if they support the incumbent government”.

As we wrote on Sunday, PM Orbán visited Hungarians community in Romania, he had a speech at an event in Cluj/Kolozsvár, marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Also Orbán was in Szászfenes/Floresti, and he was speaking at the opening ceremony of the new academic year at the Partium Christian University.

DK supports that Hungarian governments at any time should assist ethnic Hungarians with their education or cultural spending, but finds it “intolerable and unacceptable” that the prime minister should “buy himself votes in neighbouring countries at the expense of Hungarian taxpayers”.

Lawmakers of Fidesz said in response that supporters of DK head Ferenc Gyurcsány seek to “disown” ethnic Hungarians and referred to DK’s policy as a “hate campaign”.

“Gyurcsány and his lot would sooner grant migrants rights than ethnic Hungarians,” they said in a statement.

As we wrote Saturday, DK was setting up its own election list for the 2018 elections but wants to coordinate with opposition parties on individual constituency candidates.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI