OSCE report torn apart

On March 24, a team of election observers from four nations including researchers, representatives from NGOs, lawyers, and the press arrived to Hungary.

The first sentence is biased

The first sentence of the OSCE document is biased, heeding no attention to this principle. Instead of referring to the “child protection act” by its full name, they use this informal title in a completely unprofessional manner. “This statement is tantamount to saying that the law is only called this way, when in reality it aims at something else.” They use this same style, and make the author’s (or the entire commission’s) opinion obvious in making judgements about female representation in the system and on their comments on the rule of law debate between Hungary and the European Union.

The OSCE also repeatedly committed the same biased errors:

“Additionally, there is a visible tendency in the report to quote unsubstantiated opinions of “interlocutors”, which are invariably critical of the government, without providing the counterbalancing opinion of the opponents, or a clarification why this may be the case.”

As an example, it is noted that Hungary has largely ignored the recommendations of previous OSCE reports, but there is no detailed explanation as to how, what extent or why.

According to them, if a respondent has a positive opinion on the government, this is often followed by a negative opinion. For example, “while most interlocutors expressed confidence in the accuracy of the voter register, some raised concerns…”

Only negative opinions

But actually, there are barely any positive examples of the government.

“Negative unsubstantiated opinions of the anonymous “interlocutors” were invoked at least 8 times in the document, while positive opinions are hardly present.”

Moreover, their interviews are unclear and do not offer any concrete specifications on who they asked or what their party affiliation is.

The international observation team also called attention to the fact that the OSCE report “was widely disseminated in the press, with numerous headlines repeatedly indicating that, according to the report, only one, currently ruling party is favored in the election process.”

“According to international standards, international observers cannot interfere in the election process, express any bias or preference in relation to national authorities, parties, candidates, or with reference to any issues of contention in the election process.”

Overall, they determined that according to the aforementioned reasons, the OSCE document violates principles of impartiality and therefore can be considered an international attempt to intervene in the Hungarian elections.