As you might have read in previous issues of The CEU Weekly, the most heated conflicts of the last months in Hungarian politics were about the new electoral law which made prior registration a prerequisite to be able to participate in the future elections. Many details made it clear that the aim of the law was to keep non Fidesz-voters or people who decide in the last moment away from elections (Regarding these details see: “Restriction of Suffrage in Hungary”, In The CEU Weekly, Issue 22.)
In the beginning of 2013 the Constitutional Court struck down several provisions in the act on election procedure, finding that prior registration unjustifiably restricts voting rights, since the state has registries at its disposal, so it must ensure voting rights without registration.
A bit exaggeratedly we could say that in the last 2 years we got kind of used to it that Fidesz does not worry too much when the Constitutional Court strikes down some laws as unconstitutional, but instead changes the very Constitution in a few days. Concerning the electoral law a different thing happened. The executive members of Fidesz decided to accept the Constitutional Court’s decision peacefully and leave the Constitution as it is currently. Many opponents of the government welcome this change in the government’s attitude as a sign that Fidesz recognized its incapacity to ruin Hungarian democracy totally. Whether it is justifiably celebrated as a turning point in politics, it is an open question for now.
Agnes Kelemen
Nationalism Studies, Hungary
0 comments:
Post a Comment