The National Election Committee, acting within its competence as laid down in Section 34 (2) point a) of Act C of 1997 on Electoral Procedure (hereinafter: Ve.), issues the following

resolution

According to the second sentence of Section 5 (1) of Act XXXIV of 1989 on the election of parliamentary representatives (hereinafter: Vjt.), two or more parties may recommend and nominate jointly.

Based on the first sentence of Section 5 (5) of the Vjt., parties may form a joint regional list based on a joint individual constituency nomination - with the participation of the same parties - and a joint national list based on joint regional lists - with the participation of the same parties.

Section 5 (9) of the Vjt. states that the same party may only nominate one list - independent, joint or linked - in a constituency.

The last sentence of Section 7 (1) of the Vjt. provides that a voter may vote for one candidate. According to the last sentence of Section 8 (1), a voter may vote for one list.

According to Section 8 (5) of the Vjt., a list shall not receive a mandate in the cases mentioned in Section 8 (1) and (3) of the Vjt. if it does not meet the following conditions:

a)A party list shall not receive a mandate if the regional lists of the party that nominated it do not receive more than five percent of the valid votes cast for all regional party lists and tallied nationwide. In this respect, only the valid votes cast for the regional lists of the same party may be tallied.

ba)A joint list, or the lists participating in a link, shall not receive a mandate if they do not jointly receive at least ten percent of the valid votes tallied nationwide, and at least fifteen percent in the case of a joint or linked list nominated by more than two parties. In this respect, only the valid votes cast for joint or linked lists compiled in the same way by the same parties may be tallied.

bb)Any member of a linked list or joint list that reaches the threshold referred to in point ba) and that does not receive more than five percent of the valid votes tallied nationwide for all regional party lists, shall be eliminated and may not receive a mandate. In this respect, only the valid votes cast for the same lists or parties participating in the same linked list or joint list, compiled in the same way by the same parties, may be tallied. If a list is eliminated from a linked list or a party from a joint list, it shall be considered as if the eliminated list did not participate in the link or the eliminated party did not participate in the nomination of the joint list, so its candidates may not receive a mandate.

Section 8 (7) of the Vjt. states that when calculating the percentage threshold according to Section 8 (5) point bb) of the Vjt., the votes cast for a joint list shall be distributed among the parties concerned according to a prior declaration made by them - uniformly nationwide - on the basis of Section 9 (3), and in the absence thereof, in equal proportions.

According to the first sentence of Section 9 (1) of the Vjt., candidates on the national lists shall receive mandates in the order of their registration, in proportion to the fractional votes tallied nationwide.

Based on Section 9 (3) of the Vjt., the fractional votes of a joint individual constituency candidate and a joint regional list shall be added to the national lists of the parties that nominated the joint candidate or the joint list, in a proportion determined in advance by the parties concerned - uniformly nationwide. In the absence of a different provision by the parties, the fractional votes shall be added to

a)the joint national list nominated by the parties that nominated the candidate or the list,

b)the linked national list in which the joint national list of the parties that nominated the candidate or the list participates.

According to Section 25 (1) of Act C of 1997 on Electoral Procedure (hereinafter: Ve.), an additional member of the election committees - besides those mentioned in Section 23 - shall be appointed by the nominating organization that nominated a candidate or list in the constituency, or by the independent candidate.

According to Section 44 (1) of the Ve., during the campaign period, broadcasters may publish political advertisements for nominating organizations and candidates under identical conditions. It is forbidden to add opinions or explanatory comments to a political advertisement.

According to the first sentence of Section 46 (1) of the Ve., a candidate may be recommended on a recommendation slip. Section 49 (1) of the Ve. states that a joint candidate can only be nominated based on recommendation slips on which the names of all the nominating organizations that nominated the given joint candidate are listed.

According to Section 49 (2) of the Ve., if several nominating organizations jointly nominate a candidate, they shall be considered as one nominating organization for the purposes of the election.

According to Section 55 (1) of the Ve., the election office shall issue a certificate of the announcement of a nominating organization, a candidate, or a list, and the election committee shall issue a certificate of their registration.

According to the first sentence of Section 91 (1) of the Ve., every nominating organization that nominates a candidate in the elections is entitled to central budget support in proportion to the number of candidates nominated. According to Section 92 (1), independent candidates and nominating organizations may spend a maximum of one million forints per candidate for the election, in addition to the budget support provided for in Section 91. The number of candidates to be taken into account shall be determined according to Section 91 (2).

According to Section 93 (1) of the Ve., national public service broadcasters shall broadcast political advertisements of nominating organizations that have nominated a national list, regional public service broadcasters shall broadcast political advertisements of nominating organizations that have nominated a regional list in their reception area, and local public service broadcasters shall broadcast political advertisements of individual constituency candidates running in their reception area, at least once free of charge from the 18th day before the vote until the 3rd day before the vote at the latest.

Section 93 (2) of the Ve. provides that on the last day of the election campaign, the broadcasters mentioned in Section 93 (1) of the Ve. shall publish political advertisements created by the nominating organizations and candidates free of charge, as specified in paragraph (1).

Section 96 (5) of the Ve. provides that in the case of a joint candidate or a joint list, the names of all nominating organizations must be listed on the ballot paper.

According to Section 149 point g) of the Ve., a nominating organization is: a party registered according to Act XXXIII of 1989 on the operation and financial management of parties, as well as a social organization registered according to Act II of 1989 on the right of association; nominating organizations that nominate a joint candidate or list are considered a single nominating organization.

1. It follows from the referenced provisions of the Vjt. and the Ve. that if several nominating organizations (parties) jointly nominate a candidate or a joint list, these nominating organizations (parties) are considered a single nominating organization for the purposes of the electoral procedure regulated by the Ve., from the recommendation to the determination of the results, in terms of the rights and obligations of the nominating organization. Accordingly:

a)the nominating organizations (parties) that jointly nominate a candidate or a joint list are entitled to appoint one member to the election committees as a single nominating organization;

b)broadcasters are required to publish the political advertisements of the nominating organizations (parties) that jointly nominate a candidate or a joint list under identical conditions, as political advertisements of a single nominating organization;

c)the nominating organizations (parties) that jointly nominate a candidate or a joint list may, according to Section 92 (1) of the Ve., spend a maximum of one million forints per candidate for the election as a single nominating organization, in addition to the budget support specified in Section 91 of the Ve.;

d)the nominating organizations (parties) that jointly nominate a candidate or a joint list are entitled to the budget support specified in Section 91 (1) of the Ve., in proportion to the number of candidates nominated, as a single nominating organization;

e)the names of all the nominating organizations (parties) that jointly nominate a candidate or a joint list must be listed on the recommendation slip and the ballot paper.

2.a)It clearly follows from the legal provisions that in order to obtain mandates, parties that have nominated a joint list must, in relation to the valid votes cast for all regional party lists and tallied nationwide, jointly reach at least the ten or fifteen percent threshold, and individually at least the five percent threshold. A member of a joint list that reaches the appropriate threshold and has reached at least the five percent threshold shall receive a mandate; a member of the joint list that has not reached this threshold may not receive a mandate. In the calculation of the percentage threshold, the prior declaration made by the nominating organizations (parties) that have nominated a joint list within the deadline is decisive; in the absence thereof, the votes cast for the joint list must be distributed in equal proportions among the nominating organizations (parties) participating in the list nomination.

b)If, in accordance with Section 5 (5) of the Vjt., several parties nominate joint regional lists based on a joint individual constituency nomination and a joint national list based on these, the fractional votes of the joint individual constituency candidates and the joint regional lists may only be added to the joint national list of the parties that nominated the joint candidate or the regional list, regardless of whether these parties have or have not made an explicit agreement to this effect.

*Its text was established by the 5/2010. NEC resolution