Election Cttee repeatedly turns down Liberals’ complaint over quota referendum

Budapest, June 17 (MTI) – The National Election Committee has repeatedly turned down a complaint filed by the Liberal Party over the government’s campaign ahead of a planned national referendum concerning European migrant quotas.

According to the Liberals, the government’s “information campaign” is aimed at influencing voters so that they vote against the European quota system. Hungarian rules prohibit conducting such campaigns earlier than 50 days before the actual referendum, the party said, noting that the date of the quota referendum has not been set yet. The Liberal Party, therefore, turned to the election committee with the aim that it should call on the government to stop its campaign.

The committee said in response in a statement that the complaint “does not fall within its scope”. They argued that since there was no referendum date, the campaign had not started and therefore the “subject of the complaint does not qualify as a referendum matter”.

Andras Patyi, the head of the committee, who signed the statement, said that the government’s communication “could be seen as an information campaign” because “the posters do not indicate a date for the referendum”.

The government is bent on maintaining a public focus on the referendum and on the possibility that it could be held before the end of 2016, and “it is not forbidden by any legislation,” the statement said.

The committee a week ago turned down the Liberals’ complaint for the first time on grounds that it had been submitted by the director of the party, whereas the official registry indicates the chairman as the party’s legal representative.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters