HUNGARY: Former Socialist PM Ferenc Gyurcsany, who now leads a small opposition party, went on a week-long hunger strike along with his supporters to protest against the legislation proposed by the ruling Fidesz party

Record ID: 327859

  • Title: HUNGARY: Former Socialist PM Ferenc Gyurcsany, who now leads a small opposition party, went on a week-long hunger strike along with his supporters to protest against the legislation proposed by the ruling Fidesz party
  • Date: 14th September 2012
  • Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (FILE - 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE VOTING
  • Embargoed: 29th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACZ4LXM8U7UG3OU11ZDOQ1UA4J
  • Story Text: The ruling Fidesz party, which has already scrapped a two-round voting system in favour of a winner-take-all single round, is now proposing legislation that would mandate voter registration at least 15 days ahead of the next election.
    Critics say this would serve Fidesz' interests as it could keep away many hesitant voters, who make up their minds only in the very last days after hearing all the arguments. Over half of the electorate are undecided according to opinion polls.
    To protest the voter registration, former Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who now leads a small opposition party called Democratic Coalition, went on a week-long hunger strike, camping in front of parliament this week.
    Gyurcsany, who earned infamy with a leaked speech admitting that he had lied about the economy to defeat Orban in 2006, said the only aim of the measure was to help Orban get re-elected.
    "They [the government] have two aims. On the one hand, try to help the democratic opposition not unifying, not fighting together against Fidesz and excluding all undecided voters knowing that the Fidesz voters are very decided, very committed. These undecided, hesitative voters are the most dangerous factor in this election system for Fidesz therefore they would like to keep them out from the election," he said.
    The government has rejected this claim. They say the change is needed to take account of at least a million new voters who could participate in the next election.
    The newcomers include hundreds of thousands of ethnic Hungarians living across the borders in central Europe, who were made eligible for Hungarian citizenship in one of Orban's symbolic first acts after taking power in 2010.
    According to the government, voter registration drive and plans to lower the bar for candidates to run would strengthen democracy and motivate more people to turn up at the polls.
    "The goal of the new electoral procedure law was to get out to vote as many Hungarian citizens as possible. There are Hungarian citizens around the world, they live there, they work there and a new unified registration system can help them to get out to vote, and here we are talking about hundreds of thousands of Hungarian voters so the goal is to widen the scope of Hungarian voters," deputy state secretary for international press relations, Ferenc Kumin said.
    But, given an existing, up-to-date registry of domestic voters, Robert Laszlo, an election system expert at think tank Political Capital says Fidesz is pushing a solution without a problem. He said the changes could make the incumbent harder to beat unless opposition parties join forces.
    Laszlo said the last two weeks are critically important in any election, with many deciding in the very last days, such as in 2010, when, tired from years of painful austerity under the Socialists, voters catapulted Orban's Fidesz into power.
    "Many people voted for Fidesz in 2010 only for lack of a better alternative. Fidesz has a basis of about one and half million voters out of which they still have about one million who are committed voters. But in 2010 2.7 million people voted for them, so almost double. A large part of these people were not committed Fidesz voters just disappointed with previous governments and saw Fidesz as a promising alternative. Now these are the voters who have become very disillusioned with the Fidesz government in the past two years."
    After years of grinding hardship and Hungary again seeking International Monetary Fund help to stabilise its indebted economy, an Ipsos survey in August said 4.2 million people, or more than half of eligible voters had no party to pick from.
    Gabriella Hantos, 57, has been out of a job for years and she, like millions of others, sees no credible alternative.
    "With registration or without it, I think nobody knows where to vote when the elections come," she said. "The situation is completely hopeless."
    Political Capital's Laszlo said it was just this group of disillusioned people, whose ranks he estimates at 1.5 million, that Fidesz seeks keep away from the polls in 2014.
    If they fail to sign up in advance for any reason, they will not be able to cast their vote or make an informed decision after hearing all the arguments leading up to election day.
    The government said it would seek a constitutional review of the new system before it is due to take effect next year.
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