Ukrainian election cttee decision on voting districts “unacceptable”, says govt official

(MTI) – The decision by a Ukrainian parliamentary committee on voting districts which would prevent the Hungarian minority from forming a voting bloc and sending its own representative to the legislature is “unacceptable”, a government official said on Tuesday.

Arpad Potapi, state secretary for Hungarian communities beyond the border, said in a statement that democracy is especially important in the current domestic situation in Ukraine — in particular the operation of the democratic institutional system. Therefore it is worrying that the electoral pursuits of the Hungarian ethnic community in western Ukraine, for which following a law-abiding path is important, has ended in failure, he added.

Ethnic Hungarian party in Transcarpathia KMKSZ earlier condemned a recent resolution of the Ukrainian election committee to create new electoral districts that would fragment the Hungarian voting community.

The new rule will put the Hungarian minority into three districts in which it would have a majority in none, and as a consequence, the Hungarians would lose their right to delegate a lawmaker to the Ukrainian parliament.

The KMKSZ argued that the decision contravened the election law. The law currently in force allows for a ward for minority groups in a way that they make up a single electorate, the statement issued in Uzhhorod said.

Out of the 225 individual districts KMKSZ is only asking for a single ethnic minority bloc, as has been the practice in the past four elections. KMKSZ called on the election body to create a district including the 150,000 strong ethnic Hungarians.

“Constantly infringing on minority rights does not contribute to the creation of peace in a country grappling with a grave situation”, it said.

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