Hungarians living in Great Britain will not be able to vote due to the postponement of Brexit

The chance to vote during the European Parliament (EP-) elections in May is significantly affected for Hungarians living in Great Britain whether or not the country is still part of the EU: those without a Hungarian home address could still vote via post, but with Great Britain staying in the EU they are only allowed to vote for British parties.

According to 24.hu, the National Election Office will send out letters to the Hungarians living in Great Britain without a Hungarian home address, who requested to be able to vote via post before the EP elections. They would have been able to vote for Hungarian parties via post as they would have had a home address outside the EU if Brexit had taken place.

However, due to the fact that the United Kingdom did not exit the EU by the 30th of April, it will still be an EU member at the time of the elections, meaning that those Hungarians who live in Great Britain and have no Hungarian home address will not be able to vote via post.

The postponement of Brexit makes them only be able to vote for British parties. According to British laws, however, they will need to be accepted into electoral rolls by the 7th of May if they wish to vote.

For those with a Hungarian home address, nothing changes: they will be able to vote at delegations (in London, Manchester or Edinburgh) with no regards to whether Brexit is postponed or not.

As 24.hu says, the postponement also affects British citizens with a Hungarian home address. Local election offices – while it was assumed that Great Britain would not take part in the May elections – regarded British citizens to be from outside the EU, meaning that they have not been accepted into nominal rolls. New resolutions need to be made for these matters, and British electors need to be accepted into Hungary’s nominal rolls according to their earlier requests. In every case, British electors will be notified.

Union electors with a Hungarian home address can request their acceptance into the nominal roll until 4 PM on the 10th of May if they wish to vote for Hungarian parties.

Source: by Ádám Jánosi