Election 2014 – Opposition Suspects Vote Rigging In Swing Districts

Budapest, April 2 (MTI) – The left-of-centre Unity alliance suspects potential vote rigging, insisting that the number of voters in swing constituencies has grown in the past two months.

Gergely Karacsony, a Dialogue for Hungary (PM) politician, told a news conference today that whereas the number of people with the right to vote had declined by 40,000 overall over the past two months, the number of “tourist voters” — namely people registered at a new address close to the election — had swelled in 12 voting districts where the outcome is up for grabs. These swing constituencies are mainly in Budapest, he added.

Socialist lawmaker Gergely Barandy told the same news conference that it was likely that ruling party Fidesz had organised the transfers. He said the governing party was luring innocent people into an illegal action, since registering at a fictional address is forgery of official documents.

Asked to give proof that Fidesz is behind the alleged “transfers,” Karacsony said the legislation that “enables” fraud had been drafted and passed by the current government majority that had also appointed the heads of government offices.

As another example, Karacsony mentioned that over 100 people had registered as an official address an average-sized house in Tornyospalca, a village near Hungary’s eastern borders.