Government: Election law changes needed to repress “fake parties”

Photo: MTI/Balogh Zoltán

Hungary’s recent amendment to the election law has been “justified and necessary”, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office told his regular press conference on Thursday, and insisted that the changes “will not impact cooperation within the opposition”.

Gergely Gulyás said that the changes were aimed at ensuring that only those parties receive central financing that can field at least 50 individual candidates. “This has nothing to do with opposition parties’ fielding candidates,” he said.

He also noted a “consensus” between all parties that the current election and campaign financing rules allowed room for abuse.

Gulyás also suggested that passing the changes was urgent, or else they could not take effect before the 2022 elections.

Health care ‘much more prepared’ in 2nd wave

The second wave of the coronavirus epidemic is more serious than the first one, but “the country and its health care are much more prepared for the challenge” than during the first wave, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office also told his regular weekly press briefing.

Gergely Gulyás thanked residents for observing the recently introduced curfew and other restrictions.

The government trusts that the new restrictions, ordered for 30 days, will stop the spread of the infection and health capacities will be sufficient to treat those requiring intensive care, Gulyás said.