election

POLL – Fidesz maintains lead over opposition

Daily News Hungary

Budapest, June 10 (MTI) – The ruling Fidesz-Christian Democratic alliance maintained its lead over the opposition parties in June, a fresh poll released by Századvég on Friday showed.

In the whole sample, support for Fidesz-KDNP was 29 percent, for radical nationalist Jobbik 13 percent, for the Socialists 9 percent and for the Democratic Coalition (DK) 5 percent. The green LMP party captured 3 percent and Egyutt 1 percent, both below the parliamentary threshold of 5 percent, the poll said.

Among decided voters Fidesz-KDNP stood at 44 percent, Jobbik at 24 percent and the Socialists 16 percent. DK garnered 8 percent among decided voters, LMP captured 4 percent and Egyutt 1 percent.

The pollster noted that as the “largest centre-right people’s party” Fidesz has been at the top of the polls since the summer of 2006.

Szazadveg conducted the poll between June 1 and 5 by phone with a sample of 1,000 adults.

Semjén congratulates ethnic Hungarian winners in Romania local elections

Budapest, June 6 (MTI) – Zsolt Semjén, Hungary’s deputy prime minister, has congratulated ethnic Hungarian winners in Romania’s recent municipal elections.

Speaking at the closing event of this year’s Kőrösi Csoma and Petőfi programmes, Semjén said that over 200 ethnic Hungarian candidates were elected mayors in Sunday’s election. The politician made a special mention of the RMDSZ party, which had won mayoral positions in Miercurea Ciuc (Csíkszereda) and Sfantu Gheorghe (Sepsiszentgyörgy), the two largest cities in Szeklerland.

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Semjén said that RMDSZ’s victory was “especially important in light of increasingly brutal anti-Hungarian sentiments in Romania” and insisted that ethnic Hungarians were being “harassed through the (Romanian) judiciary”. He added that the Romanian side had “intimidated Hungarian candidates to deter them from running in the election”.

Concerning the two cultural programmes, Semjén said that the young volunteers participating were “representatives of the whole of the Hungarian nation”. He said that participants were instrumental in helping ethnic kin in procedures to obtain Hungarian citizenship.

potápiState secretary Árpád János Potápi said that under the Kőrösi Csoma Programme 100 volunteers had visited Hungarian communities in Canada, South America, various European countries, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. He added that the Petőfi Programme involved 50 participants, and the scheme was similarly successful in reviving communities of the Hungarian diaspora.

Photo: MTI

Fidesz to submit election law changes in autumn

Budapest, May 23 (MTI) – Ruling Fidesz is planning to submit its proposal on changes to the electoral law, daily Magyar Hírlap quoted Gergely Gulyás, the party’s deputy group leader, as saying on Monday.

The changes are aimed at introducing different rules concerning the election registration of Hungarian nationals in other countries, as well as campaign financing, Gulyás told the paper.

Under the proposed changes, voters holding dual citizenship would be required to confirm their registration for an upcoming election or indicate changes in their personal data.

As for party financing, Fidesz will propose that parties garnering less than 2 percent of the votes should refund central subsidies received for their election campaign, Gulyás said.

He added that current rules on voters abroad casting their ballot by mail would be left unchanged.

Photo: MTI

Weekly government press briefing about president election, US criticism, migration – UPDATE

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will start a broad consultation in February next year about whom he should recommend to Fidesz lawmakers as the next president of Hungary, government office chief János Lázár said. Hungarian-born US financier George Soros is behind recent negative remarks targeting Hungary, he said on Thursday.

Government: Soros ‘behind anti-Hungary remarks’

Soros’s flagship idea is one advocated by US President Barack Obama, Lázár said at a regular press briefing, namely that migrants should be moved to Europe. The Hungarian government believes that Soros is an influential supporter of the US Democratic Party and the Clintons and he will “make room” for his views at any cost. He added that Soros is likely to take action soon against the Orban government “which is considered one of his most dangerous political enemies in Europe”.

Soros “can always be detected in the background,” Lázár insisted.

Hungary is against migration, a position that conflicts with that of “several European powers and the United States”, Lázár said.

At a campaign event for his wife at the College of New Jersey last week, former US President Bill Clinton referred to Hungary and Poland as “two countries that would not be free but for the United States and the long Cold War”. Clinton added that now Hungarians decided democracy was “too much trouble” and wanted a Putin-style leadership.

Asked by US news agency AP, Josh Earnest, spokesman for the White House, said that he was unaware of the Hungarian minister’s remarks. He added, however, that “I’m not sure they’re worthy of a response.”

Concerning ties with the US, Lázár said that the Hungarian government is interested in strong bilateral relations, and while “Hungary is a reliable partner in such areas as defence or business, there are some issues on which there is no agreement”. Lázár insisted that “some US circles” think that Europe needs immigrants. “We don’t see eye-to-eye with those Americans”. He added that he would not “identify those interest groups with the US administration”.

Referring to the current situation in Hungary, Lázár said that since the beginning of the year 11,800 illegal migrants have entered Hungary, and 2,472 of them were staying in the country at the moment. This year, 221 migrants in Hungary have been granted international protection.

Orbán to gauge Fidesz opinions on next president in 2017

Lázár said under party rules, the Fidesz leader has the right to make a recommendation on a presidential nominee to the party’s parliamentary group.

Lázár added that he had headed the parliamentary group during the process of two presidential nominations and both had been preceded by “very circumspect consultations”.

Answering a question about speculation that human resources minister Zoltán Balog was a possible nominee, Lázár said he was “not aware” of any such proposal.

Earlier this week, footage was released by commercial Hir TV of György Rubovszky, a co-ruling Christian Democrat deputy, saying it was “impossible” for President János Áder to be re-elected for a second term because “Viktor [Orbán] would not allow that”.

Referring to the footage, Lázár said it was “gossip rather than a sound statement”. He said that cooperation between the prime minister and the president was “excellent” and added that “nobody was cross with anyone”. Orbán, Áder, and Kövér, the house speaker, have been “political allies and personal friends for 30 years”.

UPDATE

Government to decide on plans for Budapest train stations next week

The government will decide on future plans for Budapest’s Nyugati (Western), Déli (Southern) and Kelenföld railway stations next week, Lázár said.

Lázár said the aim was to make transport safer and to expand green areas in the capital.

Among the plans to be examined are a proposal to building a link between Nyugati station with the zoo in the City Park under the Nyugati Liget project.

With regard to Déli station, the plans are to close down the station. This can only happen if a substitute can be found; upgrading Kelenfold station is under consideration in that regard, Lázár said.

Plans on the use of 240 billion forints (EUR 759m) generated by the sale of state farmland are also on the agenda of next Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, he added.

Photo: MTI

DK wants Hungary president to be elected by supermajority or popular vote

Daily News Hungary

Budapest, May 19 (MTI) – The leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) has proposed that the rules of electing Hungary’s president should be changed so that the president is elected solely with the backing of a supermajority of lawmakers, the party’s spokesman said on Thursday.

Under the party’s proposal the president could also be elected in a popular vote, Zsolt Gréczy told a press conference.

DK also wants a new constitution which would declare that the country is a republic, and restore democracy with respect for human rights and basic freedoms, he said.

Incumbent President János Áder is unsuited to the post since he has been serving the interests of ruling Fidesz and its leader, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, similarly to his predecessor, Pal Schmitt, Gréczy said.

Two other opposition parties, Jobbik and green LMP called for direct presidential elections earlier this month.

Earlier this week, a footage was released by commercial Hír TV, in which a co-ruling Christian Democrat deputy said it was “impossible” that President János Áder should be re-elected for a second term, because Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “would not allow that”. In response, the prime minister’s press chief dismissed speculation about the PM’s role in the presidential election, saying that parliament has an exclusive power in the process of electing the president.

Press chief dismisses speculation about PM’s role in presidential election

Daily News Hungary

Budapest, May 18 (MTI) – Parliament has an exclusive power in the process of electing the country’s president, Bertalan Havasi, the prime minister’s press chief told MTI on Wednesday.

Havasi spoke in the wake of footage released by commercial Hir TV, in which a co-ruling Christian Democrat deputy said it was “impossible” that President János Áder should be re-elected for a second term, because Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “would not allow that”.

Concerning the footage, Havasi said that “we are not in a position to assist with the interpretation of deputies’ opinions or their eavesdropped conversations”.

Earlier on Wednesday, radical nationalist Jobbik deputy group leader Gábor Staudt referred to the television footage as a “rare honest moment” and said it was regrettable that it was up to one single person to decide who would be Hungary’s president.

President should be elected directly, say Jobbik, LMP

Budapest, May 5 (MTI) – Representatives of radical nationalist Jobbik and green LMP voiced support for direct presidential elections in future, at talks held on Thursday.

Gábor Staudt, Jobbik’s deputy group leader, said that a direct election would strengthen the legitimacy of the president. Hungary needs a head of state “who appeals to the Constitutional Court more often and makes more use of his powers,” he said. Although those powers could be extended, Jobbik would not want to see a “semi-presidential” system, he added.

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LMP co-chair András Schiffer said his party would increase voter participation in the process of selecting the president, as opposed to the current practice in which “parties consider the post as a trophy”.

Schiffer also urged that the president should have more power to act as a counterpoise in a system “veering towards majority-dominated democracy”.

The meeting was scheduled to be attended by all five parliamentary parties, but the ruling parties and opposition Socialists stayed away.

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Photo: MTI

Former prime minister urges cooperation between leftist parties

Budapest (MTI) – Ferenc Gyurcsány, head of the leftist Democratic Coalition (DK), has called on parties of the “democratic opposition” to cooperate before the next parliamentary elections.

Speaking at a local residents’ forum in Kaposvár, in southwestern Hungary, Gyurcsány offered to contribute “openness to compromise, generosity, and patience” and said he expected the same from the other parties.

“It is time we forgot about disputes and grievances, because they cannot be as grave as to hinder working together again in light of the current state of the country,” Gyurcsány said.

Gyurcsány said he saw the mistakes his own government had made, but insisted that the Socialist cabinet had been “basically motivated by decency, good intentions and an honest will to serve society”. He added that what he saw now was “no morals and no good will”.

Photo: MTI

Three opposition parties meet executives for building 2018 election strategy

Budapest (MTI) – Three opposition parties met with company executives on Wednesday to outline political strategies for replacing the government in 2018.

The Jobbik party and the LMP party plan to run on individual tickets while the Együtt party wants to form an alliance for the elections, party leaders said in Röjtökmuzsaj, near the border with Austria, where the event was held for the 31st time.

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András Schiffer and Gábor Vona

Jobbik leader Gábor Vona said there are no centrist powers around ruling Fidesz anymore but people feel they have no alternative to Fidesz. At the same time he said voters will not choose Fidesz, though this has been covered by the wave of migration as a red herring. He said Fidesz can only be beaten by the runner-up party and noted that according to poll results, Jobbik has 57 percent support in the under-35 age group.

Jobbik’s foreign policy can best be seen as in a triangle of Germany, Russia and Turkey with the Arab world in which the party keeps equal distance from all three points, he added.

Együtt leader Viktor Szigetvári said the regime was not a centrist power but an illiberal force which failed to handle the social problems of the past 25 years. However, municipal by-elections last year showed that the leftist opposition is not in a position yet to become a rival to the governing parties. “Jobbik would take the country to the same dead-end as Fidesz has done,” Szigetvári said. Együtt represents a “sober, western-type of strong alternative for 2018 with support for a reformed Europe,” he said.

András Schiffer, co-leader of LMP, said the centrist power zone does exist but it is on “shaky ground”. Although polls currently still put Fidesz in the lead, it is a question of time for how long the party can hide its mistakes behind the migrant crisis.

He said while Fidesz used strong and clear language in its communications in 2010-2014 it has become obvious that it has no plans for the post-2014 period. “The question of 2016 will be whether our education and health-care systems can survive,” he said.

Vona said migration and corruption were the two most burning issues in politics at present, and while Fidesz wanted to keep the former on the agenda Jobbik wants to focus on the latter.

Szigetvári said his party is stronger structurally in big cities, adding that Egyutt is open for a “political and linguistic renewal” in the election campaign. “We are open to all cooperation which can lead to victory,” he said, adding that he did not think Jobbik could beat Fidesz and that Schiffer will “make a pact with anyone who comes into power”.

Three Jobbik deputy leaders not to be re-elected

Budapest, April 20 (MTI) – Three deputy leaders of the radical nationalist Jobbik will not be re-elected in the summer convention, Ádám Mirkóczki, the party’s spokesman, said on Wednesday.

The deputy leaders concerned are István Apáti, Előd Novák and István Szávay, he told a press conference.

Giving the reasons for the move, Mirkóczki said that the current board has accomplished its mission of stabilising voter support and turning Jobbik into a leading opposition force.

In the next phase, Jobbik should prepare for governing after the 2018 general elections, he said, adding that party leader Gábor Vona wants to also have “other characters”, including mayors, among his deputies.

The move does not signal any “split” between radicals and moderates within Jobbik, the spokesman said, adding that the party will continue to rely on the work of the three outgoing deputy leaders.

Vona is expected to name his candidates over the next few weeks, he said.

Top court rules prohibiting voters temporarily abroad from voting by mail constitutional

Budapest, April 20 (MTI) – The Constitutional Court on Wednesday ruled that prohibiting Hungarians staying abroad on the day of the elections from voting by mail is not against the Constitution.

Under the ruling, the clause in Hungary’s election law stipulating that citizens who have a permanent address in Hungary but stay abroad are required to vote at a foreign representation in person does not violate voting rights.

The court said that the rule may cause inconvenience to those concerned, but the “objective, constitutional and rational” reasoning behind it is that citizens who have registered addresses in Hungary have a more direct relationship with the state and can therefore be expected to cast their votes in person.

Under the election law, ethnic Hungarians living abroad without a permanent address in Hungary are allowed to cast their ballots by mail.

Altogether 128,378 mailed votes were counted in the 2014 election, with the incumbent Fidesz-KDNP alliance winning 95 percent of them. Fidesz-KDNP won a second consecutive two-thirds majority in parliament in the 2014 general elections.

Socialists demand review of Sunday shopping referendum decisions

Budapest, March 11 (MTI) – The opposition Socialist party has appealed to Hungary’s supreme court, the Kúria, asking it to review decisions passed by the National Election Committee (NVB) in connection with two referendum initiatives on the Sunday shopping restrictions, the party’s deputy group leader said on Friday.

The party has asked the Kúria to annul the NVB’s ruling accepting the initiative submitted in support of the already existing Sunday shopping law, Zoltán Lukács told a press conference.

The Socialists have also asked the court to annul NVB’s ruling rejecting their lawmaker’s referendum question opposing the Sunday shopping ban and approve the question for a referendum, he said.

The Kúria has 90 days to come to a decision, said Lukács, insisting that the initiatives were submitted in an unlawful manner late last month.

Socialists will stage a demonstration in front of the National Election Office on March 15 and they want a committee set up to investigate the issue, he said.

In an incident on Feb. 23, Socialist lawmaker István Nyakó attempted to submit his referendum initiative to the National Election Office but was held up by a group of “thugs” just long enough for a rival referendum question to be submitted.

Hungary’s referendum rules state that while a question is being examined, it is not possible to submit another question on the same subject.

Photo: MTI

Constitutional Protection Office investigating Election Office incident

Budapest, March 9 (MTI) – Hungary’s Constitutional Protection Office has launched an investigation into a recent incident in which a group of thugs allegedly prevented Socialist deputies from submitting a referendum initiative.

Socialist head of parliament’s national security committee Zsolt Molnár and Bernadett Szél, member of the body delegated by green LMP, said that on top of the thugs obstructing the operations of a democratic institution, the incident had national security aspects, too. They added that “the whole of society” wants to know what happened. Molnár called the incident a “disgrace” for Hungarian democracy and added that the explanations provided so far are unacceptable.

Ádám Mirkóczki, a committee member delegated by radical nationalist Jobbik and ruling Fidesz’s Szilárd Németh, deputy head of the committee, condemned the incident. Mirkóczki noted that “some people” suggest a link between Jobbik and “thugs hired by (Fidesz’s) Gábor Kubatov”. In reaction, Németh called Mirkóczki’s remark “paranoid” and quoted Kubatov as denying any connection with the thugs.

Photo: MTI

Hungarian parties discuss changing referendum rules

Budapest, March 8 (MTI) – The ruling Fidesz-Christian-Democrat parties and the opposition Jobbik and LMP parties on Tuesday supported an initiative to amend referendum rules.

Last week, LMP resubmitted a proposal on referendum rules in light of a recent incident in which a group of thugs prevented a Socialist MP from submitting a referendum initiative to the National Election Office.

The Socialists refused to attend the meeting, saying an investigation into the incident should come before cross-party talks.

Gergely Gulyás, who represented the ruling alliance, said the National Election Office comprising members representing all parliamentary parties would hopefully put forward its amendment proposal soon.

Gulyás, who is the head of parliament’s legislative committee, said the five parliamentary parties should consult to ensure that a vote on amendments takes place.

He said the ruling alliance was open to discussing LMP’s proposals on amending referendum-related campaign financing rules and provisions on ensuring equal opportunities, but would prefer to wait for the position to be formulated by the relevant body.

LMP’s co-leader András Schiffer said parliamentary parties must come up with a legal solution to ensure that incidents such as the one on Feb. 23 do not occur again. He also called for broader changes to referendum rules.

“Fidesz in 2011 created a referendum law that allowed those in power to play citizens as puppets, but we now want to have a law in place that truly returns the referendum to the people,” Schiffer said.

Dóra Dúró, deputy group leader of radical nationalist Jobbik, said the party was open to even amending the country’s constitution, as proposed by LMP, in an effort to ensure “that the institution of a referendum in Hungary is returned to the people.”

Photo: MTI

Left-wing candidate wins interim local election in Salgótarján

Budapest, February 28 (MTI) – A left-wing candidate has won the local election in the northern Hungarian town of Salgótarján, defeating the candidates of the ruling Fidesz party, the opposition Jobbik and the non-parliamentary Workers’ Party.

According to figures released by the election office late on Sunday, Zsolt Fekete, the candidate of the opposition Socialists, the Democratic Coalition, the Tarján City Residents’ Alliance and the European Left-wing, received 7,394 votes out of 14,209. The interim elections were prompted by the death of Socialist Mayor Ottó Dóra last November.

The election office said on Sunday night with a vote count at 95 percent that voter turnout was 45.97 percent. The runner-up was ruling Fidesz’s candidate with 7,394 votes, followed by Jobbik’s candidate with 882 and the Workers’ Party’s candidate with 247 votes.

Socialist leader József Tóbias said that the result gave hope to Hungarians who think Prime Minister Viktor Orbán should leave his post in order to have a “freer, safer and more liveable Hungary”. He expressed thanks to the city for “having the courage to say no to incitement to hatred and blackmail.”

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The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) said “today’s victory belongs not only to Salgotarjan but to the whole of Hungary, and the only loser of the day is Fidesz which has no qualms abusing its power.”

Tibor Simon, the Fidesz-Christian Democrat candidate, congratulated Fekete. But he also vowed to reveal how much money “disappeared” during the previous Socialist leadership in the past year and a half.

Jobbik also congratulated Fekete and offered its professional help in running the city. Jobbik deputy leader Tamás Sneider and mayoral candidate István Hulitka said in a joint statement that Jobbik would like to build a peaceful political system where the various political forces’ main ambition is not to discredit the opponent but to most effectively represent their voters.

Photo: MTI

Former candidates arrested

Former individual candidates of the party called the Allies of Maria Seres (SMS) can receive up to two years imprisonment. 29 of them were interrogated as suspects – newspaper Magyar Nemzet reports. Allegedly, they did not cooperate in the accounting of campaign expenses. However, it is not known why the party is not impeached because of the 5 million HUF per candidate they received, mno.hu wrote.

According to Magyar Nemzet each of the 67 candidates of the party can be arrested in the future. The suspicion is based on section 363 of the Penal Code, which is about the breach of obligations related to the State Audit Office. The law says, among others, that those who breach the contribution obligations can receive up to 2 years of imprisonment.

Jozsef Kapas, who ran in the 3rd individual constituency in Szolnok, recalled how the State Audit Office previously investigated the party’s use of money. Candidates can spend not only one million forints as before, but an additional HUF 4 million can also be spent. Still, most of the candidates renounced it in favor of the party. According to Kapas, the party now argues that their candidates have to be called to account, who never confirmed how they spent the money. He told they had nothing to do with the 4 million, but the party still blames them.

Additional candidates also told why they were called for accountability.

Magyar Nemzet also wanted to ask the party, but they could not reach party chairman Maria Seres. There were also some problems with the HUF 1 million state aids given to the candidates. In last year’s parliamentary election, 8 of the 67 candidates did not or could not (due to a technical error) renounce the 1 million forint amount in favor of the party.

According to mno.hu, there is debt collection on the accounts of several candidates, although the party promised it would vouch for all of its candidates. This is important because the law states that those who do not get at least 2% of the votes have to pay back the state aid afterwards. Since most of the SMS candidates did not reach the percentage, seven people is already called to pay it back, while the party is not vouching for them.

based on the article of mno.hu
translated by BA

Photo: http://seresmaria.hu

Copy editor: bm

COPA Women’s Committee: Re-elected in Brussels

COPA Women’s Committee elected Margit Batthyany-Schmidt as first Vice-President again. The mandate of the President of the Hungarian Women’s Union (MNU) lasts in the representation in the most influential advocacy of individual farmers for 2 years, while she can work as the delegate of the National Association of Agricultural Economics, mnunio.hu wrote.

Maria Batthyany-Schmidt considers her re-election an enormous recognition, since the board, besides her lobbying, evaluated her works so far as well. She stressed: she continues to work with all her might to help and facilitate the life of the women, especially who live in the countryside by all possible means. The President of the MNU called honorable the trust of the European community and she hopes that her ideas, advices will be listened and accepted not only by them, but by more and more of the decision makers as well. Maria Batthyany-Schmidt thinks the duties must be continued by embracing the women’s financial security, since many of them do not have a legal job, do not get enough money, not to mention the fact that it is time to keep in mind the principle of “same amount of salary for the same job” in 2015.

The Dutch Willemien Koning-Hoeve has been elected as the President of COPA Women’s Committee. The other members of the committee are the Belgian Marianne Streel and Jola Leonczyk as well as the Italian Francesca Gironi between 2015 and 2017.

based on the article of mnunio.hu
 translated by BA

Photo: Copa-Cogeca Facebook page

Egyutt calls for amending election rules for ethnic Hungarians

Budapest, November 1 (MTI) – The opposition Egyutt party has called for an amendment to the law pertaining to the voting rights of ethnic Hungarians without a permanent address in Hungary, saying that under the current law tens of thousands of election ballots sent out to voters in 2018 could become “untraceable”.

Earlier this week, the National Election Office (NVI) said that it would send letters to more than 200,000 Hungarians living beyond the border asking them to notify NVI of any change of address.

The party noted that under the election law, registrations of ethnic Hungarians are valid for ten years, allowing tens of thousands of people to vote in the 2018 election without having to register again, regardless of whether or not their addresses change over the four years.

Egyutt said that with the current law in place, tens of thousands of ballots will become untraceable, potentially leaving the door open for “mass voter fraud”. The party has called on the government to order NVI to suspend the updating of its database

The ruling Fidesz party responded saying that “the left would admit an unlimited number of migrants to Hungary, but it still doesn’t like Hungarians living beyond the border”. They said NVI wants to update its database to make sure that its list of addresses belonging to ethnic Hungarians is “up to date and accurate”.

Photo: MTI