Speaking after talks with top officials of the National Election Office, Arato said that nearly 500,000 ethnic Hungarians living in neighbouring countries had registered to vote in Hungary's upcoming parliamentary election.

"DK's position, however, is that those deciding Hungary's future should bear the consequences of their vote; people who have never lived nor paid taxes in Hungary should not be allowed the vote," Arato said.

Meanwhile, the system "includes a number of components that could facilitate fraud," he said, insisting that anyone who has registered and participated in a vote once remained in the system for ten years, "even if they die in the meantime".

Family members, he said, are required to inform the authority of bereavements but "there is no automatic information transfer, and it it not at all certain that the names of the dead are being removed," he added.

Arato said that voters in other countries can ask for their election documents to be posted "to any address", yet "nobody checks if the applicant themselves receive the package... Anyone could send in a vote in the applicant's name," he said.

The DK politician also complained that whereas ethnic Hungarians enjoyed the privilege of mailing their votes, nationals with permanent residency in Hungary staying abroad at the time of the vote are obliged to go to a Hungarian embassy or consular office to cast their ballot.


Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent.

Since the goal of XpatLoop is to keep readers well briefed, right across the spectrum of opinions, MTI items are shared to ensure readers are aware of all narratives within the local media.

XpatLoop believes in empowering readers to form their own views through complete and comprehensive coverage. To facilitate this XpatLoop has a balanced range of news partners, as you can see when you surf around XpatLoop.com
 

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