Local elections – New Budapest assembly cannot convene until district vote established

Budapest, October 17 (MTI) – The local election committee in Budapest’s 15th district has decided to hold a repeat ballot on Nov. 9 after suspecting election fraud. The repeat vote and legal wrangling will delay the formation of the Budapest City Assembly.

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) is suspected of misleading voters by presenting its candidate Laszlo Hajdu as being a candidate of the other opposition parties, too, in campaign flyers.

Elected mayors automatically have a mandate in the assembly.

The ruling is appealable and the case is likely to be referred to the Budapest Election Committee before proceeding to a higher court.

DK, with Hajdu its only elected Budapest mayor, said that the local election committee’s ruling was “trumped-up” and appealed the local ruling.

“We are protesting against this latest manifestation of dictatorship”, a party spokesman said on Thursday.

Hajdu himself told a press conference that the election committee’s decision is groundless and unlawful. He said the ballot papers clearly indicated that he was a DK candidate. He added that the committee criticised that his flyers did not indicate that the other opposition parties were only supporting organisations and that DK was the one fielding the candidate. Hajdu said this argument suggested that the election committee thought “voters were incapable of determining whom they were voting for.”