Hungarian Government Proposes Election Law Changes

Already nationally dominant, the Hungarian ruling party Fidesz seeks to increase its majority with new election laws. (Wikimedia Commons)

Hungarian lawmakers recently introduced a bill proposing changes to election law that may make it difficult to oppose the ruling party. Officials presented drafts of this bill on November 10. 

Currently, for a political party in Hungary to be considered legitimate, it must field candidates in 27 out of the 106 constituencies. The bill proposes increasing the number from 27 to 50, almost double the original number. 

Government proponents of this bill argue that it prevents small “pseudo-parties” from running, parties that only aim to collect campaign funds. The new system will only give weight to parties that represent a significant constituent base. 

Critics of the bill believe that the government designed it to block opposition to the current ruling party, Fidesz. While that party has a large majority in the Hungarian Parliament, six other parties hope to form a coalition and gain power in the 2022 elections. However, their plans have been complicated by the proposed bill. 

For example, several political parties previously agreed to only field one candidate in single-member constituencies. Now that the minimum to have a national list has been raised, parties have less room to maneuver and may have to either field joint candidates or fight each other for power in these same constituencies in order to make a national list. 

The news of this proposed amendment caught many by surprise; government officials introduced it late at night with little warning. Although the bill still technically needs to be approved, the process will likely be swift as Fidesz has a two-thirds majority in Parliament. 

Opposition party leaders have sharply criticized the introduction of the bill at a time when Hungary has reached its highest number of COVID-19 cases. As of November 16, the country has reported 147,191 cases and 3,190 deaths. 

The country recently went into a partial lockdown to prevent further spread of the virus. Opposition leaders claim that the government is taking advantage of the public’s preoccupation with the rising case count to pass undemocratic legislation. 

Péter Jakob, a leader of the opposing Jobbik party, said that to the current regime, “Human life doesn’t matter, jobs don’t matter, election law does.”

Another amendment proposed by Fidesz decriminalizes taking photos of ballots. Opposing politicians have decried this suggestion as yet another way for Fidesz to gain power and possibly blacklist people who vote against the party. 

The subject of corruption in Hungary has been placed under an international spotlight recently. In October, the European Union named Hungary as a violator of the EU’s rule-of-law standards, specifically voicing concerns about government interference in the judiciary system and deliberately anti-democratic processes.