Hungary Election: Seven Party Lists Filed Before Registration Deadline

The verification of candidate endorsements continues.

Illustration (Photo: Shutterstock).

Seven national party lists were registered with the National Election Committee of Hungary (NVB) by the Saturday 4 p.m. deadline, while 12 national minority self-governments also submitted lists for the parliamentary election, the National Election Office of Hungary (NVI) told the Hungarian news agency MTI.

The NVB had registered the national lists of the following far ahead of the deadline:

• Our Homeland Movement (MHM)
• joint list of Fidesz Hungarian Civi Alliance and Christian Democrats (Fidesz–KDNP)
• Democratic Coalition (DK)

By Saturday’s deadline, four additional party lists were submitted, the following three on Friday:

• Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party (MKKP)
• Respect and Freedom Party (Tisza)
• Tea Party Community

On Saturday, the Solidarity Party and the Hungarian Workers' Party submitted a joint list. As a result, a maximum of seven party lists may appear on the ballot in April.

However, the final number could be lower if the verification process finds that a party has failed to meet the requirement of fielding at least 71 individual candidates in the capital plus 14 counties in order to register a national list.

Eight years ago, 40 party lists were submitted, but only 23 ultimately appeared on the ballot. Four years ago, seven lists were registered, and six eventually appeared on the ballot.

As previously reported, voters will cast ballots on two separate sheets on April 12. One will be used to vote for a candidate in their individual parliamentary constituency. Candidates had until 4 p.m. Friday to register. According to the NVI’s online information portal, more than 370 constituency candidates have already been officially registered.

Twelve Minority Lists Registered

At its Saturday meeting, the NVB also registered the national list of the Slovak minority for the April 12 parliamentary election.

Lists representing the following national minorities have already been registered: Ukrainian, Armenian, Roma, Bulgarian, Romanian, Rusyn, Croatian, Slovenian, Greek, Polish, and German.

Once the registration decision becomes final, a minority spokesperson can be elected if at least one registered minority voter casts a valid vote for the list on April 12.

A national minority self-government may submit a list for the parliamentary election if its assembly approved the decision by February 2. In addition, at least one percent of voters registered as belonging to that minority must support the list with their signatures.

According to information from the Budapest government office, the assembly of the Serbian National Self-Government did not decide on candidates before the February 2 deadline. 

As a result, it cannot submit a minority list for the April 12 election, meaning only 12 minorities will be able to field national lists.

For the National Slovak Self-Government, 15 endorsements were required to submit a list.

Minorities must nominate at least three candidates to submit a national list; the newly registered Slovak list contains 27 candidates. 

The first candidate on the list—Antal Paulik—would become the minority spokesperson.

Minority self-governments that submit national lists may send a spokesperson without voting rights to Hungary’s parliament if they fail to obtain a preferential parliamentary seat. Such a seat can be secured if the minority list receives at least one-quarter of the votes required for a party to win a mandate.

Minority self-governments were able to collect signatures and submit their national lists to the NVB until 4 p.m. on March 7.

Once the decision registering the national lists becomes final, the Slovak national self-government will also be entitled to delegate a member to the NVB, though that member may vote only on matters affecting minorities.

Cover photo: Illustration (Photo: Shutterstock).