Hungarians in Germany can vote in only 5 places, Romanians have opened 80 polling stations [article in Hungarian, TL in comments]

3 comments

1. >In a letter from a Hungarian living in Germany, he asked the Hungarian embassy there to have polling stations outside the 5 cities designated for foreign representation voting in the April 3 elections. According to the Hungarian consul in Berlin, under German rules, you can only vote where there is a Hungarian embassy or consulate. However, according to the Hungarians living in Dresden, this rule no longer applies: if Hungary really wanted to, Germany would allow voting in several places. In 2020, for example, Romanians living in Germany could vote in about 50 cities and 80 places, and the French did not have polling stations only in the cities of their foreign missions.

   >There are 155,000 Hungarians officially living in Great Britain, but the real number of Hungarians citizens there is probably much higher. They can vote only in three places in England: London, Manchester and Edinburgh

   >Of course, it would be easier to vote by mail, but the Hungarian Electoral Act only allows Hungarian citizens living abroad who do not have a Hungarian address (they can only vote for a party list, not for an individual candidate). However, many Hungarians who have lived abroad for many years do not want or cannot get rid of their Hungarian residence. The letter writer also argued that the Hungarian laws do not justify it at all, and in the case of those with a housing loan, it is explicitly impossible for Hungarians living abroad to give up their address. Thus, tens of thousands live in Germany who can only cast their votes at consulates, not by letter. The letter writer also highlights the unique distinction in Europe that some Hungarians living abroad can vote by letter, while others cannot.

   The situation is same accross all of the EU+UK. There’s about half a million Hungarian emigrants, mostly on the aforementioned countries, but there are sizeable communities in France, Netherlands, Ireland and ellewhere. In France for example, Hungarians can only vote in Paris or Lyon. The governement sees no need to expand the number of voting places; Indeed, most polls conducted among the diaspora shows 60-70% of them would vote for the opposition’s coalition.

   At the same time, Hungarian double citizens in Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine can vote by mail.

2. It is worth noting that this is about the Hungarian Parliamentary Elections coming in April.

3. Just showing off. Estonians can vote wherever they want, granted they have internet access 😛