Court Overturns Gerrymandering in Budapest That Would Have Favoured Fidesz
- 20 Dec 2023 8:05 AM
- Hungary Around the Clock
The Metropolitan Court has annulled a redrawing of local election constituencies in the Fifth District that would have favoured Fidesz in local elections.
Two constituencies in which the opposition would have had good chances would have disappeared.
Electoral districts in the downtown area had to be redrawn due to a decrease in population that will leave the district with only eight individual municipal representatives instead of ten next year.
Under the proposed alterations, two constituencies in which the opposition could have had good chances of winning have disappeared.
The plaintiffs, opposition members in the Fifth District – Tiéd a Belváros, Alex Gábor Kovács, Endre Tomos and Péter Árvai – challenged the decision with the help of civil rights groups, claiming that the population of six of the eight new districts differs by at least 5% from the average set by law, which according to the law must be substantiated, but the minutes about it are meaningless.
The court ruled in the plaintiffs’ favour, but said political arguments were not examined on the merits, because the lack of justification alone was enough to annul the redistricting.
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