On 26th May, the Hungarian voters will elect 21 members of the European Parliament. In October, voters will vote on members of local government.
In this elections, voters might vote on five different positions:
every voter
will vote on mayors;
and local government representatives ;
certain voters will elect county assembly members;
those voters who registered as minority voters can also elect the representatives of minority self-government;
voters in Budapest will elect mayors not only in their own districts but also the Mayor of the Capital.
Constituents who have residency in Hungary, but work or study abroad for a prolonged period of time, and consequently are not going to be in Hungary on the day of the parliamentary elections, may only vote at the foreign embassies. In certain cases, this might necessitate a journey of several hundred kilometres, and entail considerable costs, or even prevent them from voting. At the same time, constituents who are going to stay abroad on the day of the election as well, but who do not have residency in Hungary, can vote by post, which is cheap, simple and convenient. HCLU, representing a constituent working abroad, has contested these discriminative rules at the Constitutional Court.
The HCLU agrees with the Constitutional Court's decision that pre-registration of voters residing in Hungary is an unnecessary legal restriction. In order to ensure universal and equal suffrage not only the relevant law, but the Fundamental Law of Hungary itself should also be reviewed.