election

Parliament session on election law amendment abandoned – UPDATE

Budapest, August 22 (MTI) – A special session of Hungary’s parliament initiated by the Jobbik party aimed at amending the election law was abandoned for lack of a quorum on Monday.

Jobbik proposed amending the election law with a view to making it easier for Hungarians working or studying abroad to vote in the upcoming national referendum on EU migrant quotas on Oct 2.

Hungarians who have a permanent address in the country but are abroad on the day of an election or referendum can vote at a Hungarian embassy or consular office, while ethnic Hungarians living beyond the border can vote by mail.

Jobbik said these rules were unfair, arguing that many Hungarians working in western Europe “have to travel hundreds of kilometres” to exercise their voting rights at a representative office.

The opposition Socialist and LMP parties supported Jobbik’s initiative to hold a special parliamentary session, whereas the ruling Fidesz party and their Christian Democrat ally signalled they would not attend.

Fidesz last week rejected the proposal to amend the election law, saying that the current one is “coherent and has stood scrutiny by international organisations such as the European Court of Human Rights and the Venice Commission”. Group leader Lajos Kósa said the opposition parties were using the amendment proposal to thwart the upcoming referendum.

UPDATE

Opposition LMP’s Bernadett Szél said lawmakers of the ruling parties have failed to meet their obligation to represent all Hungarians including residents in other countries. She went on to say that the referendum was a mere “trick” for the government or else they would make sure that “the votes of all Hungarian citizens are equal”.

The Liberal Party called the ruling parties’ staying away from the session “outrageous, unacceptable”. In a statement, Liberal leader Gábor Fodor said that the current election law was discriminative in the sense that it made for Hungarians staying or working abroad more difficult to vote than for ethnic Hungarians holding dual citizenship. He suggested that “the government is concerned” that the “large number of Hungarians” in other countries could vote “for the EU at the anti-European referendum”. Fodor repeated his call that voters should participate in the referendum and cast their ballot against the government’s initiative.

The Együtt party also demanded equal voting rights to all Hungarian citizens.

The Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party proposed introducing electronic voting in Hungary’s election system.

Socialist deputy group leader László Szakács called on Fidesz to stop discrimination and ensure equal voting rights to all Hungarians.

The spokesman for Fidesz’s parliamentary group noted that the Socialists had stayed away from a meeting of parliamentary parties on the subject in early August. But ten days later the party’s lawmakers stated support for the same initiative they had branded earlier as “selfish and unconvincing,” János Halász told a press conference. He called Jobbik’s proposal a draft lacking thorough preparation and insisted that amending procedural rules right before a ballot would be equal to “trampling on” democratic traditions.

August 22, 2016

Parliament special session unlikely to reach quorum – Preview

Budapest, August 21 (MTI) – A special session of parliament initiated by the Jobbik party to discuss amending Hungary’s election law is unlikely to reach quorum on Monday, as the ruling Fidesz-KDNP alliance has signalled that more than half of their lawmakers will stay away.

Jobbik has proposed amending the election law with a view to making it easier for Hungarians working or studying abroad to vote.

Hungarians who have a permanent address in the country but are abroad on the day of an election or referendum can only vote at a Hungarian embassy or consular office near them, while ethnic Hungarians living beyond the border can vote by mail.

Jobbik said these rules were unfair, arguing that many Hungarians working in western Europe “have to travel hundreds of kilometres” to be able to exercise their voting rights at a representative office.

The opposition Socialist and LMP parties supported Jobbik’s initiative to hold a special parliamentary session to change the voting rules.

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August 22, 2016

Jobbik: Parliament session on election law thwarted

Budapest, August 18 (MTI) – The Jobbik party has initiated an extraordinary session of parliament in order to vote on its proposal to amend Hungary’s election law. But the ruling Fidesz party and their Christian Democrat ally have signalled they will not attend, so a vote on the issue cannot go ahead in the session scheduled for Monday, Jobbik lawmaker István Szávay said.

Speaking after a meeting of the house committee, Szávay said the current election law differentiates between voters. This is discriminatory and wrong in a country based on the rule of law, he said.

Ethnic Hungarians living beyond the border can vote by mail while Hungarians who have a permanent address in the country but are abroad on the day of an election or referendum can only vote at a Hungarian embassy or consular office near them, he complained.

Dóra Dúró, Jobbik’s deputy group leader, said the government should strengthen ties between Hungarians working in western Europe and their homeland but the current election system encourages people to give up having a permanent address in Hungary.

Fidesz group leader Lajos Kósa told a press conference that it was cause for concern that the opposition party was trying to amend the rules for a referendum whose date has already been set. The opposition is neglecting all democratic norms and customs, he insisted. If Jobbik’s proposal were approved, the October referendum would not be possible to carry out because there would not be enough time to register all Hungarians working abroad, he added.

August 18, 2016

Jobbik gathers sufficient support for parlt session on election law

Budapest (MTI) – The Jobbik party has collected the required number of signatures to initiate a special session of parliament for August 22 to discuss amending Hungary’s election law with a view to making it easier for Hungarians working or studying abroad to vote.

The initiative has been supported by altogether 45 lawmakers, including 17 Jobbik MPs, 22 Socialist deputies, five MPs of the green opposition LMP, as well as by independent lawmaker Tímea Szabó, Jobbik told MTI on Monday.

Initiatives for convening a special parliamentary session requires support by one fifth of all MPs, namely 40 deputies. The house committee is expected to discuss the agenda for the extraordinary session on Thursday.

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Representatives of ruling Fidesz, Jobbik and LMP met last week for talks on the possibility of changing the election law to allow Hungarians working or studying abroad to vote by mail. The meeting was initiated by Jobbik. Under the current election rules, Hungarians who have a permanent address in the country but are abroad on the day of an election or referendum can only vote at a Hungarian embassy or consular office near them, while ethnic Hungarians living beyond the border can vote by mail.

Fidesz last week rejected the proposal to amend the election law saying that the current law is “coherent and has stood scrutiny by international organisations such as the European Court of Human Rights and the Venice Commission”. Group leader Lajos Kósa also said after the talks that amending the election law at this point would make it impossible to hold the migrant quota referendum on Oct 2 as planned.

August 16, 2016

Quota referendum campaign starts in Hungary

Budapest (MTI) – The campaign preceding the government’s referendum on the European Union’s migrant quota system, set for October 2, officially started on Saturday.

Under Hungary’s election law, the campaign starts 50 days before the actual vote and closes with the polls on the day of the referendum.

In the campaign period, all political parties with a parliamentary group can put out posters, distribute leaflets or other information without any special permit, however, the source of the information must be indicated. Placing posters on buildings, however, requires the owner’s permission, and no posters are allowed on or inside buildings of state or municipal authorities. Posters must not be placed over the posters of other parties or those of the government.

Under the latest amendments to the election law, there is no campaign silence, however, on the day of the vote no campaigning is allowed within 150 metres of the polling stations.

In the referendum, Hungary’s voters will be asked:

“Do you want to allow the European Union to mandate the resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens to Hungary without the approval of parliament?”

The referendum plan was announced by the prime minister on February 24. The reason given by the government was that “only Hungarians rather than Brussels can decide who they want to live together with in their own country”.

August 14, 2016

Election committee rejects Socialist complaint over govt’s quota referendum campaign

Budapest, August 12 (MTI) – The National Election Committee on Friday threw out a complaint the opposition Socialist Party had filed concerning the government’s quota referendum campaign.

According to the Socialists, the government is not allowed to campaign urging voters to participate in the referendum, and if it still does, it should take a neutral position. They also said the government’s campaign includes false information such as “the European Union seeks to settle a townful of illegal migrants” in Hungary.

The committee turned down the complaint saying that campaign activities cannot be scrutinised outside campaigns periods, and added that the campaign for the quota referendum, set for October 2, would not start before August 13. András Patyi, the head of the committee, argued that “promotion or encouraging voters before the campaign are not campaign activities because they are not conducted during the campaign”.

Patyi also noted that the government was proponent of the referendum, rather than an “impartial observer”, and as such it was “closely connected to the goal and outcome” of the vote.

András Litresits, Socialist member of the body, voiced disagreement and regretted that the committee “cannot handle a campaign conducted outside a campaign period”.

Photo: MTI

August 12, 2016

LMP says Socialists wrong to sit out election law amendment talks

Budapest, August 10 (MTI) – The Socialist Party was wrong to stay away from a meeting parliamentary parties held earlier this week to discuss a possible amendment to Hungary’s election law, green opposition LMP said on Wednesday.

Representatives of ruling Fidesz, Jobbik and LMP met on Monday for talks on the possibility of changing the election law with a view to making it easier for Hungarians working or studying abroad to vote. The meeting was initiated by Jobbik, who had also proposed that parliament meet for an extraordinary session later this month to change the rules pertaining to postal voting.

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Under the current election rules, Hungarians who have a permanent address in the country but are abroad on the day of an election or referendum can only vote at a Hungarian embassy or consular office near them, while ethnic Hungarians living beyond the border can vote by mail.

LMP spokesman István Ferenczi told MTI on Wednesday that without the Socialists, the opposition does not have enough MPs to call an extraordinary session of parliament. He said that if the Socialists choose not to take part in the work of parliament then they should not collect their paychecks either.

Regarding Monday’s talks, Ferenczi said Fidesz gave a “cynical” argument for rejecting the possibility of an amendment. Fidesz group leader Lajos Kósa said then that the current election law is “coherent and has stood scrutiny by international organisations such as the European Court of Human Rights and the Venice Commission”. He also said that amending the election law at this point would make it impossible to hold the migrant quota referendum on October 2 as planned.

Ferenczi said LMP’s amendment proposals include introducing electronic voting, restoring the institution of the popular initiative and making constitutional amendments and the privatisation of public services subject to referendums.

He said LMP is ready to hold talks with Fidesz on amending the election law, adding that if the ruling party does not initiate such talks then his party will.

August 10, 2016

No amendment likely to election law in connection with quota referendum

Budapest, August 8 (MTI) – No amendment to Hungary’s election law can be expected after talks were held on Monday among parliamentary parties at the initiative of patriotic Jobbik in connection with the form of voting at the Oct. 2 migrant quota referendum.

Under the election rules currently in place, Hungarians who have a permanent address in the country but are abroad on the day of an election or referendum can only vote at a Hungarian embassy or consular office near them, while ethnic Hungarians living beyond the border can vote by mail.

Jobbik called for five-party talks on a possible amendment to the election law allowing Hungarians working or studying abroad to vote in the referendum by mail. The party also initiated a special parliamentary session for August 18 to amend the law.

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The talks on Monday were attended by lawmakers of ruling Fidesz, Jobbik and opposition LMP. The allied ruling Christian Democrats and the opposition Socialists stayed away.

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Fidesz group leader Lajos Kósa said after the meeting that the party rejects to support an amendment, arguing that the current election law is “coherent and has stood scrutiny by such international organisations as the European Court of Human Rights and the Venice Commission”.

An amendment would be problematic from a procedural point of view since a time frame for appeals should also be considered, he told reporters. Kósa said he saw no reason for holding an extraordinary parliamentary session on the issue and added that the opposition parties failed to form a common position.

Dóra Dúró, Jobbik’s deputy group leader, criticised both Fidesz and the Socialists over their stance, saying that the ruling party completely rejected their proposals while the Socialists did not even bother to show up at the talks.

She said the state should allow those Hungarians “who have been mostly forced to go abroad” to maintain contact with their home country in as many ways as possible. She added that “spirit of the current law” was against this.

Jobbik will continue with its efforts to have a parliamentary session called over the issue, she said.

Ákos Hadházy, co-chair of LMP, said the party supported an amendment to the law allowing voting by mail. At the same time, he reiterated that the quota referendum is pointless because it will not solve the problem of migration.

Photo: MTI

August 8, 2016

Socialists plan to name PM candidate next summer

Budapest, August 4 (MTI) – The opposition Socialist Party plans to name its candidate for prime minister sometime during the summer of 2017, party leader Gyula Molnár said on Thursday.

Responding to a question at a press conference in Békéscsaba, in southeast Hungary, Molnár suggested that his party would fare better in the 2018 general election if it nominated a credible “outsider” for prime minister instead of someone from within the party. The Socialist Party is “not looking for a Viktor Orbán 2.0”, Molnár insisted.

If the party does end up nominating an insider, however, László Botka, Szeged’s Socialist mayor, would be the only fitting candidate, even if Botka has already ruled this out, he said.

Botka told news portal Index.hu in an interview last month that he thought his candidacy for prime minister would be unrealistic, especially after being replaced as the party’s board leader at the last congress.

Molnár estimated that his party had managed to retain around 700,000-800,000 voters after losing roughly the same amount over the past several years. The voters who had left the party, however, have not found any other parties to support, Molnar told MTI. The Socialist Party’s most important task now is to strengthen its base and attract new voters, he said.

He underlined the need for Hungary’s left-wing parties to cooperate with each other in the next election by agreeing on single candidates in each of the 106 constituencies. The Socialist Party will name its candidates for each constituency by late October, early November, he said.

He said the “democratic opposition” parties should hold primaries in the constituencies where there is more than one candidate. The primaries should be held and the final candidates selected by summer 2017, he added.

Referring to LMP co-leader Akos Hadhazy’s recent rejection of the idea of a primary, Molnár said opposition parties that do not take part in the primaries and field their own candidates “will be supporting [Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán”.

Molnár said the leftist opposition’s candidate for prime minister will have to be named by the “strongest party of the cooperation”, which he said was the Socialist Party.

Photo: MTI

August 5, 2016

Jobbik initiates special parliament session to amend election law

Budapest, August 4 (MTI) – The Jobbik party has initiated an extraordinary session of parliament for later this month to amend Hungary’s election law with a view to making it easier for Hungarians working or studying abroad to vote.

Jobbik plans to hold talks with the other four parliamentary parties on a possible election law amendment next Monday, and has proposed that parliament convene for a special session to amend the law on August 18.

Jobbik MP István Szávay told MTI on Thursday that he considers the current voting rules applying to Hungarians staying abroad discriminatory and expressed hope that the opposition parties can reach a consensus with the government on changing the law.

Other opposition parties have also criticised the electoral system.

LMP

On Wednesday, green opposition LMP said the election law “differentiates between Hungarians” by not allowing all citizens living abroad to vote by mail. The party called on the government to allow all Hungarians living abroad, including those working in western Europe, to vote by mail in the October 2 migrant quota referendum.

The Liberals

The Liberals branded the election rules pertaining to postal voting as “severe discrimination”. Anett Bősz, the party’s spokeswoman, proposed that Hungary should follow Estonia’s example and introduce electronic voting to make it easier for the roughly 600,000 citizens who were born in the country but have since moved abroad to participate in elections.

Socialists

On Monday, the Socialist Party said the current electoral system “fails to apply equal voting rights” and so is incompatible with the rule of law.

Photo: MTI

August 4, 2016

LMP calls on govt to allow all Hungarians abroad to vote by mail in autumn referendum

Budapest, August 3 (MTI) – The green opposition LMP party has called on the government to allow all Hungarians living abroad, including those working in western Europe, to vote by mail in the October 2 migrant quota referendum.

Party spokesman Péter Ungár told MTI on Wednesday that the government “differentiates between Hungarians and Hungarians” by not allowing citizens who have a registered address in Hungary but work abroad to vote by mail.

He said voting regulations for Hungarians in western Europe were “unacceptable” even for the general election in 2014 as “many of them had to travel hundreds of kilometres” to be able to exercise their voting rights at the nearest embassy or consular office.

Under Hungary’s election rules, Hungarians who have a permanent address in the country but are abroad on the day of an election or referendum can only vote at a Hungarian embassy or consular office near them while ethnic Hungarians living beyond the border can vote by mail.

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On the topic of the referendum itself, Ungár said the vote would not resolve the migration crisis but added that decisions on immigration should be kept as a national competency. Hungarians have a right to decide who they want to live together with in their country, he insisted. He said he would participate in the referendum and vote “no”.

In the referendum Hungarians will be asked:

“Do you want to allow the European Union to mandate the resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens to Hungary without the approval of parliament?”

August 3, 2016

Liberals propose introducing e-voting

Budapest, August 3 (MTI) – The Liberal Party has proposed that Hungary should follow Estonia’s example and introduce electronic voting in its election system.

Anett Bősz, the party’s spokeswoman, told MTI on Wednesday that electronic voting has been an option in Estonia for ten years and that over 30 percent of voters had cast their ballots this way in the country’s 2015 election.

Electronic voting also has the backing of the European Union, she added.

[box type=”bio”] COMPLICATED VOTING PROCEDURE FOR HUNGARIANS WORKING IN THE WEST[/box]

Read more at: https://dailynewshungary.com/referendum-migrant-quotas-complicated-voting-procedure-hungarians-working-west/

Bősz argued that the introduction of e-voting in Hungary would make it easier for the roughly 600,000 citizens who were born in the country but have since moved abroad to participate in elections.

She called it “severe discrimination” that the election law allows ethnic Hungarian citizens living beyond the borders to vote by mail while obliging Hungarians who had moved abroad later to vote in person at the nearest Hungarian embassy or consular office.

She proposed that Hungarians living abroad could cast their votes online with the help of an electronic ID card that they could obtain through the immigration office.

August 3, 2016

Socialists: Allow all Hungarians abroad to vote by mail

Budapest, August 1 (MTI) – The opposition Socialists have called on the government to ensure that every Hungarian living outside the country can participate in the Oct. 2 referendum without hindrance.

István Ujhelyi, the party’s deputy leader, said the current electoral system “fails to apply equal voting rights” and so is incompatible with the rule of law. While ethnic Hungarian citizens living beyond the borders can vote by mail, hundreds of thousands of Hungarians abroad must travel to the nearest Hungarian embassy or consular office to do so, he noted.

During the general election last year, 95 percent of the voters that cast their ballots amid anomalous conditions by mail voted for the ruling party, while only a “fraction” of non-ethnic Hungarians abroad were able to participate in the election, he added.

He savaged the ruling Fidesz party’s campaign ahead of the referendum on the EU migrant quotas, accusing Fidesz of “lying and cheating” and calling on voters to boycott the vote.

In response, Fidesz deputy parliamentary group leader Gergely Gulyás reiterated Fidesz’s position that voting by mail is only allowable as a last resort. Hungarians with a permanent residence abroad have therefore a right to vote by mail while those with a permanent residence in Hungary can only cast their ballots at Hungary’s nearest diplomatic mission, he said.

August 2, 2016

Referendum on migrant quotas: complicated voting procedure for Hungarians working in the West

According to nol.hu, it will be much more complicated to “send a message to Brussels” from London or from Brussels than from Transylvania, as the same rules will be valid at the October 2 referendum on migrant quotas as the ones at the parliamentary elections. While the dual citizens living in neighbouring countries can vote via letter, the hundred thousands of Hungarians working or living abroad with Hungarian postal address can only vote at foreign representations. For those living in big cities this only means a long queue, but for those living in places without an embassy or consulate this means a lot of traveling, and by lot we mean thousands of kilometres on the continents like America or Australia.

The differentiation already caused a lot of arguments two years ago at the parliamentary elections. But the complaints were rejected by the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court. Their argument was the following: since the two groups’ voting right is different (meaning that transborder Hungarians can only vote for parties, while citizens living abroad with Hungarian postal address can also vote for individual candidates), it is acceptable that their voting options are different too.

However, this argument cannot be applied to the referendum on migrant quotas: there will be only one voting-paper and one question. István Ujhelyi, vice-president of MSZP, thinks that even though equal voting rights already got hurt at the parliamentary elections, this is beyond doubt in the case of the referendum, as you can only answer with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ whether or not you have a Hungarian postal address.

He asked András Patyi, the president of the National Voting Committee, what he did to ensure equal voting rights, because the current solution labels people working abroad as secondary citizens. The answer wasn’t hopeful: Patyi said that they only practice the law and have reporting obligation towards the parliament. Then he rejected that the current practice is against the constitution as, by the decision of the Constitutional Court, the state can guarantee the practice of voting rights in several ways.

This is really what the Constitutional Court’s regulation concludes and adds: the Hungarian postal address gives a base of differentiation. People working abroad could even fly home for the day of the referendum and since “constituents with permanent Hungarian postal address have a more informal and stronger relation with the state, it can be expected that they vote personally or at foreign representations.” This strange argument brings up a new question: why does the weaker relation result in the same voting right?

István Ujhelyi believes that Fidesz is not shy to campaign illegally, arouse hatred, or even go against the constitution for the sake of the referendum. “The assuring of equal voting rights should be the elemental obligation of the state. If the differentiation is kept alive and the electoral organisations don’t guarantee the right of equal and free vote, then it all strengthens MSZP’s standing-point: we shouldn’t take part in the referendum” said Ujhelyi, who previously started a petition for equal voting rights.

Nol.hu writes that the law about the voting procedure, which became operative in May 2013, first enabled the listing of citizens working abroad with Hungarian postal address into the register of people voting via letter. However, the parliament modified the law one and a half months later, which takes us to the present situation.

In October 2013, a complainant living in Ipswich, 137 kilometres away from the Hungarian Embassy in London, turned to the Constitutional Court way before the parliamentary elections, but the establishment only rejected the petition this April.

The mover referred to the constitution and that it doesn’t allow differentiation by postal address. But the Constitutional Court decided differently by 8:5 votes. According to István Stumpf, who expressed his own opinion on the subject, it is a mistake that most of the judges qualify the method of voting a subsidiary technical circumstance. “I am convinced that the law of voting procedure unreasonably limits the voting right of those being abroad on the day of the election with Hungarian postal address, that is to say it discriminates them.” The Constitutional Court also referred to the decision of the Strasbourg Court but as it was mentioned above, the argument is invalid in this case.

The voting via letter of people working abroad wouldn’t have caused technical difficulty in the time of the parliamentary elections. It tells a lot that 128 thousand dual citizens voted this way, mainly from neighbouring countries, while only 24 thousand people voted at foreign representations. In other words, hundred thousands of Hungarian studying or working abroad were kept away from voting.

Probably the same will happen at the referendum on migrant quotas.

Photo: MTI

Copy editor: bm

August 2, 2016

Socialist, LMP discuss opposition strategies before 2018

Budapest (MTI) – The head of the Socialist Party and the co-leader of LMP held a public discussion focusing on opposition strategies before the next general election in 2018, at the Okopolis Summer Academy, on Thursday night.

In the discussion, Ákos Hadházy of LMP said that the government must be replaced in 2018, because European Union funds for Hungary will run out by 2022. He insisted that utilising those funds, a total 12,000 billion forints (EUR 38.5bn), “is an opportunity the country will not be offered again”.

Gyula Molnár, the Socialist leader, said that if Fidesz stays on government it will “complete building its new, non-democratic system both in terms of legislation and economy”. He also warned that an opposition failure could trigger social movements and “voters would expel the current parties”.

Molnár said he did not believe any opposition party could win the next election on its own. The current voter base of ruling Fidesz may not shrink below 1.5 million, he said and suggested that parties of the opposition should “put together 1.7-1.8 million”.

Molnár criticised LMP for “seeking to be a champion of truth” and “passing judgement on other parties’ credibility”. In future “we must focus on what links us” with other parties, he suggested.

As for possible cooperation with other parties, Molnár advocated pre-election voting to select candidates, but Hadházy turned down that proposal.

Photo: MTI

July 29, 2016

Szijjártó: Hungary has right to voice opinion on US presidential election

Budapest, July 28 (MTI) – Hungary has no intention of interfering in the US presidential election, as it is an internal affair of the American people, but “we have a right to voice our opinion on foreign policy matters,” Hungary’s foreign minister said on Thursday.

The US presidential election has reached an interesting phase with the nominating conventions, where it became clear what the two major parties think about foreign policy and immigration, Péter Szijjártó said, answering a question at a press conference.

The Democrats’ immigration policy plan “is completely against our interests, while the Republican presidential nominee’s views on immigration are in line with ours,” the minister said.

Szijjártó said Hungary supports Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s position that European members of NATO should fulfill their membership obligations to spend at least 2 percent of their GDP on defence. Hungary is committed to its NATO membership, Szijjártó insisted.

He said Hungary is one of the many European NATO member states whose defence spending has so far failed to reach the 2 percent target, but added that the country has a plan in place to gradually increase its defence budget to a level that is in line with its NATO obligations.

Szijjártó also reiterated that Hungary will remain neutral in the US presidential election. “We don’t support any candidate, we’re not US citizens so it would be completely irrelevant if we supported anybody anyway. We aren’t backing anyone because it [the election] is none of our business.”

Photo:MTI

July 28, 2016

Socialists to focus on social issues in election campaign

Budapest, June 19 (MTI) – The opposition Socialist Party wants to focus on education, health care, child welfare, seniors and anti-graft efforts and the party’s candidates for leadership are on the same platform regarding these aims, the incumbent party leader József Tóbiás said on Sunday.

Joined by other Socialist politicians, Tóbiás told a press conference that the Socialists’ campaign platform will call for an independent investigative body to be set up focusing on corruption-related crime.

The four candidates for leadership are Tóbiás, deputy parliamentary group leader Tamás Harangozó, former head of the Budapest chapter Gyula Molnór, and MEP Tibor Szanyi.

On the subject of the general election in 2018, Molnár said it will “not be fairer in the slightest compared to 2014”. “We are having to compete with criminals,” he said.

Tóbias said there is a “real chance” of ousting the government, but the earlier alliances among opposition parties have failed. Instead, he called for “a nation-wide social cooperation against the Fidesz-Christian Democrats with civil organisations and trade unions included.”

The Socialists are holding party elections on June 25.

At a different press conference on Sunday, Socialist lawmaker ágnes Kunhalmi, said the changes the government has proposed to make to the state agency for schools (Klik) by carving it up into 59 smaller units will still mean “concentration and centralisation in the education system”. Until schools get their autonomy and independent budgets back the system will not work well, she said.

Photo: mszp.hu

June 19, 2016

Vona pledges to resign if Jobbik loses 2018 election

Budapest, June 12 (MTI) – Gábor Vona, the leader of the radical nationalist Jobbik party, said he would resign from his post if the party ends up losing the general election in 2018, in an interview published by daily Magyar Nemzet on Saturday.

“I feel the pressure that many see Jobbik as the last chance. If the party fails to win the general election in 2018, I will indeed regard that as a personal failure,” Vona told the paper, adding that he would then accept the consequences and resign.

He said that under party rules Jobbik would need to convene an extraordinary congress to elect a new leadership.

Vona said party rules allow him the option to run for the post for another term, but his decision whether or not to seek re-election would depend on Jobbik’s margin of defeat.

“If Jobbik losses by one percent, that does not necessarily mean an end to my political career,” Vona said.

Vona called Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “a burnt-out man interested in nothing else but stealing and soccer”, adding that the prime minister’s popularity is hanging by a single thread: the migrant crisis.

June 12, 2016