15/2006. (IV. 23.) OVB resolution on the voting counting committee of the polling station designated for the counting of foreign representation votes*

The National Election Committee, acting within its competence as provided for in Section 90/A (4) a) of Act C of 1997 on Electoral Procedure (hereinafter: Ve.), issues the following

resolution

on the activity of the ballot counting committee of the polling station designated for counting foreign mission votes:

Section 97/A of the Ve. provides as follows:

„(1) The parliamentary individual constituency election committee shall seal the inner envelopes containing the foreign mission ballot papers, as per Section 73/A (4), into a transport envelope without opening them, on which the number of inner envelopes placed in it must be indicated. The transport envelope is authenticated by the signatures of the members of the parliamentary individual constituency election committee, and its president also affixes a stamp impression. The parliamentary individual constituency election committee records the number of inner envelopes placed in the transport envelope in a separate protocol. The president of the parliamentary individual constituency election committee hands over the transport envelope and one copy of the protocol to the president of the ballot counting committee of the polling station designated by the parliamentary individual constituency election committee at the seat of the parliamentary individual constituency.

(2) The ballot counting committee under subsection (1) shall mix the envelopes containing the foreign mission ballot papers - without opening them - with the envelopes containing the votes cast in the polling station.

(3) In the second round of the vote, the ballot counting committee under subsection (1) shall seal the ballot box after the close of the vote in such a way that no ballot papers can be placed in or removed from it. The ballot counting committee hands over the ballot box to the parliamentary individual constituency election committee, which ensures its secure storage.

(4) In the second round of the vote, the parliamentary individual constituency election committee shall hand over the ballot box and the envelopes containing the ballot papers as per Section 73/A (4) to the ballot counting committee under subsection (1) no later than the 6th day following the vote in Hungary, which shall immediately carry out the tasks set out in this section and - with the exception of Section 76 - in Chapter IX.”

Chapter IX of the Ve. on the counting of votes contains, among other things, the provisions on ballot counting (Section 72).

From the above provisions - also taking into account the principle of the secrecy of the vote enshrined in Section 71 (1) of the Constitution - it is clear that in the polling station designated for counting foreign mission votes in the second round of the parliamentary election, only the procedure in which the ballot counting committee does not open the ballot box(es) after the close of the vote on the day of the second round, but seals its opening, can be considered lawful.

The votes in the ballot box(es) can only be counted after the ballot counting committee has mixed the envelopes containing the ballot papers cast at the foreign missions with the envelopes containing the votes cast in the polling station.

In its decision 32/2004 (IX. 14.) AB, the Constitutional Court stated: "The state must ensure the secrecy of the vote under all circumstances. The secrecy of the vote is also violated if, during the counting of votes, the content of the votes cast by the voters can be reconstructed, and the ballot counting committee can determine what vote the voter cast."

The Parliament, in compliance with the said decision of the Constitutional Court, created the order of counting foreign mission votes in the Ve. Accordingly, a ballot counting committee that counts the votes cast in the polling station separately from the other votes cast from foreign missions before mixing them with the foreign mission votes may be violating the electoral principle of the secrecy of the vote, which is enshrined in the Constitution and enjoys criminal law protection under Section 211 f) of the Criminal Code.

Accordingly, the National Election Committee, acting within its competence as set out in Section 90/A (4) l) of the Ve., will file a criminal complaint in all cases where the ballot counting committee designated for counting foreign mission votes counts the votes received from foreign missions separately from the other votes cast in the polling station.

Dr. Péter Szigeti
President of the National Election Committee

* Text established by Resolution 5/2010 OVB