Our Constitution declares that the citizens of the Republic of Hungary take part in the administration of the affairs of the country primarily indirectly, through their elected representatives. It is a part of democracy, however, that people can be involved directly, as well, in deciding or influencing particularly important issues of public interest. A national referendum serves for this purpose.

a) In certain cases enacted by law, the National Assembly has to order a referendum disregarding whether it agrees with the launching of the referendum or not. By denying it this, it would violate the Constitution or the law. Such a referendum is decisive.

b) When the National Assembly is obliged only to consider the launching of a referendum and to weigh whether it should be called or not, this is an optional referendum. An optional referendum may express people’s opinion or be decisive (the latter applies if the subject of the referendum is the reinforcement of an act already adopted by the National Assembly but not yet signed by the President of the Republic).

a) citizens eligible to vote,

b) the President of the Republic,

c) the Government,

d) at least one third of the elected MPs.

If the referendum has been initiated by the entities referred to in items b), c) and d), the launching of a national referendum is subject to the weighing of the National Assembly.

It is important that the entities initiating a referendum have to make proposal on the wording of the question(s) subject to the referendum.

The President of the Republic shall set the date of the referendum within 15 days following the expiration of the deadline for legal remedy or – if remedy has been claimed – following the decision of the claim for remedy.

The referendum date shall be set not later than 43 days before the ballot day, within 90 days following the announcement of the related resolution of the National Assembly, or the decision of the claim for remedy, as applicable.

Any citizen eligible to vote may initiate national referendum with regard to the following:

1.      The question recommended for referendum should fall within the jurisdiction of the National Assembly i.e. only those issues can be decided by citizens through a referendum that should be decided otherwise by the National Assembly.

a.            about the state budget, the implementation of the state budget, central taxes and dues, customs duties as well as the contents of acts regulating the national terms of local taxes;

b.           about obligations resulting from effective international agreements and on the contents of acts including such obligations;

c.            about the provisions of the Constitution concerning referendum and popular initiatives;

d.           about personal and organizational (transformation, termination) issues falling within the jurisdiction of the National Assembly;

e.            about the dissolution of the National Assembly;

f.             about Government programs;

g.            about the declaration of state of war, extraordinary or emergency state;

h.            about the deployment of armed forces in Hungary or abroad;

i.              about the dissolution of the representative body of local governments;

j.             about exercising general amnesty.

The proper wording of the question is of primary importance since the issue concerned should be put on referendum in the form presented in the initiation of referendum. Should the question not meet the above criteria, the National Election Committee will not authenticate the collection of signatures (subscription list) and will reject the initiative.

The issue recommended for referendum should be submitted to the National Election Committee (hereinafter: the NEC) on subscription lists. Each subscription list should be started with the question recommended for referendum; one question can be indicated on each subscription list, and the signatures should be on the same page as the question concerned. Following the substantial and formal examination of the question, the NEC shall authenticate the subscription list or deny its authentication. The collection of signatures can only be started on lists authenticated by the NEC.

Signatures can be collected for 4 months following the authentication, and the collected signatures shall be submitted to the chairman of the NEC one time within this period. Signatures submitted afterwards are null and void.

Appeal against the authentication-related decision of the NEC can be submitted to the Constitutional Court.

NEC shall control the submitted signatures (to establish their validity and their mathematical/statistical number) within 45 days after submission. The chairman of the NEC shall advise the Speaker of the Parliament on the result of this without delay.

The procedure is the following in case of referendum initiatives submitted by citizens:

a)      The National Assembly is obliged to order a national referendum if at least 200,000 citizens eligible to vote have initiated the same. The decision made on referendum ordered on an obligatory basis is binding for the National Assembly. 

b)      The National Assembly shall weigh the ordering of a national referendum if at least 100,000 but less than 200,000 constituents have initiated the same. The referendum ordered in this way may be aimed at expressing opinion or decisive.

A referendum is conclusive if its purpose has been fulfilled i.e. the National Assembly and the entities having initiated the referendum have got a true picture on the opinion of the country’s population concerning the question raised, and the population represents a sufficiently consistent position. Our Constitution regards this for provided if more than half of the citizens casting valid votes – irrespective of the turnout figures – but at least one quarter of the total number of citizens eligible to vote have given identical answer to the question concerned.

 

Number of citizens eligible to vote: 8 048 739.