The National Election Committee, acting within its competence laid down in Section 51 (1) of Act XXXVI of 2013 on Electoral Procedure (hereinafter: Ve.) - based on the initiative of the President of the National Election Office - issues the following

directive

1. The National Election Committee considers the questions of "34. To which nationality do you feel you belong?", and "35. Apart from the one you indicated in the previous question, do you also belong to another nationality?" from the "V. Nationality, language affiliation, religion" data set of the 2011 census personal questionnaire as the "questions regarding nationality affiliation" mentioned in Section 242 (2) of Act CLXXIX of 2011 on the rights of nationalities.

2. The National Election Committee exercises its competence regarding the setting of the date of the election for local nationality self-government representatives by taking into account the data of the data provision prepared based on the answers to the questions named in point 1, and on the basis of this data provision, it determines in which municipalities the number of people belonging to a given nationality reaches twenty-five.

The directive is intended to interpret the following provisions of Act CLXXIX of 2011 on the rights of nationalities:

"Section 242 (1) Sections 50-55, Section 56 (2)-(3), Sections 57-72 must be applied for the first time at the general elections of nationality self-governments following the entry into force of this Act.

(2) Before the general election of nationality self-government representatives in 2024, the election of local nationality self-government representatives must be set if the number of people belonging to the given nationality in the municipality - according to the aggregated data of the data provision provided for the questions regarding nationality affiliation of the last census, broken down by nationality - reaches twenty-five. Section 56 (1) must be applied for the first time at the general election of nationality self-government representatives in 2024."

Legal provisions taken into account during the issuance of the directive:

Fundamental Law of Hungary

"Article XXIX

(1) The nationalities living in Hungary are constituent factors of the state. Every Hungarian citizen belonging to a nationality has the right to freely assume and preserve their identity. The nationalities living in Hungary have the right to use their mother tongue, to use their names individually and collectively in their own language, to nurture their own culture, and to education in their mother tongue.

(2) The nationalities living in Hungary may establish local and national self-governments."

Act CLXXIX of 2011 on the rights of nationalities

"Section 11 (1) The declaration of belonging to a nationality is the exclusive and inalienable right of the individual.

(3) The right to nationality identity and the declaration of belonging to a nationality - with the exception defined in this Act - does not exclude the recognition of dual or multiple affiliation."

"Section 13 (1) A person belonging to a nationality has the right to voluntarily and anonymously declare their nationality affiliation during official statistical data collection.

(2) Special data related to nationality affiliation may be handled - in the manner specified in Act CXII of 2011 on the right to informational self-determination and freedom of information - for the purpose of determining state support provided for nationality affiliation, and for the purpose of examining its targeted use."

Act XXXVI of 2013 on Electoral Procedure

"Section 309 (1) The general election of nationality self-government representatives shall be set by the National Election Committee no later than the seventy-fifth day before the day of the vote, for the day of the general election of local government representatives and mayors."

Reasoning

Based on Section 309 (1) of the Ve., the general election of nationality self-government representatives is set by the National Election Committee. When exercising this power, the Committee - by taking as a basis the data provision prepared based on the answers to the questions regarding nationality affiliation of the last census - determines which are the municipalities where the number of voters belonging to the given nationality reaches the number specified in Section 242 (2) of the Nektv. The Central Statistical Office, acting within its competence as laid down in Section 6 (1) c) of Act XLVI of 1993 on Statistics, conducted a census in 2011 based on Act CXXXIX of 2009 on the 2011 census. According to Section 13 (1) of the Nektv., a person belonging to a nationality has the right to voluntarily and anonymously declare their nationality affiliation during official statistical data collection.

In this directive, the National Election Committee must take a position on which of the questions on the so-called personal questionnaire used during the 2011 census can be considered, from an electoral law perspective, as questions that unambiguously express nationality affiliation, as laid down in Section 242 (2) of the Nektv. The exercise of citizens' right to declare their nationality identity during the census is of outstanding importance from an electoral law perspective as well, based on the provisions of the Nektv. This is because the declarations made in response to these questions serve as the basis for the data provision on the basis of which the National Election Committee decides on the calling of local nationality self-government elections.

According to the position of the National Election Committee, a grammatical interpretation of the phrase "questions regarding nationality affiliation" in the text of the law leads to the conclusion that the basis for the statistical data provision necessary for the calling of the election can only be those questions on the questionnaire that allow for direct identity identification. In line with this perspective and the legislative reasoning of the legal provision, questions 34 and 35 of the census form meet this requirement.

The National Election Committee further states that, based on the relevant provisions of the Fundamental Law of Hungary (hereinafter: the Fundamental Law) and the Nektv., the right to use one's language is also an integral part of the right to nationality identity, which is addressed by questions 36-37 of the census questionnaire. However, declarations made in response to these questions refer to nationality affiliation in an indirect, roundabout way, in contrast to the answers given to questions 34-35.

In the opinion of the National Election Committee, from an electoral law perspective, the questions regarding belonging to one or more nationalities (34-35.) during the 2011 census clearly reflect the declarations of citizens in which they declared their nationality identity and their nationality affiliation.

The National Election Committee - taking into account the provisions of the Fundamental Law and the Nektv. - is of the opinion that the right to self-determination of people belonging to nationalities living in Hungary, and the right of nationality communities to establish a local nationality self-government, are served by the legal interpretation that determines which municipalities have a number of nationality voters reaching twenty-five, and thus where local nationality elections must be called based on the provisions of the Nektv., based on the data produced by nationality breakdown of the answers to questions 34-35 of the "V. Nationality, language affiliation, religion" data set during the 2011 census.

Budapest, 25 May 2014

Dr. András Patyi
President of the National Election Committee

[1] Repealed by Directive 1/2021. NVB, Ineffective from 4 November 2021