The Hungarian parliamentary elections should to be monitored by OSCE observers, a group of members of the European Parliament have stated, expecting challenges to the democratic process in the vote, which will take place this spring, British news portal The Guardian reports.
Hungarians will go to the polls on April 3 in parliamentary elections that will decide the fate of the incumbent prime minister, Viktor Orbán, whose last 12 years in office have seen tighter executive control over courts, a withering of independent media and widespread concerns about corruption and cronyism.
In a letter to the head of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which checks electoral probity in 57 mostly European and central Asian states, the MEPs called for a full-scale election observation mission to Hungary.
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«We come from five political groups and from 19 different countries. But we all share the concern that the elections might not be held to the highest democratic standards,» states the letter to ODIHR director Matteo Mecacci.
The ODIHR, part of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, has begun a needs assessment of the mission it should send to Hungary. During Hungary’s 2018 elections it sent a limited mission, meaning it did not undertake systematic observation of voting, counting and tabulation of results. The Warsaw-based body, however, can choose to send a larger mission to carry out wider checks if it deems there is «limited confidence among election stakeholders in the election administration».
Government officials in Budapest have dismissed concerns about potentially unfair parliamentary elections, The Guardian reports.
MEPs: Hungarian elections need OSCE observers due to risks to democracy
