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

directive

1.If the nominations accepted by a voter intending to run as a candidate in the election of local government representatives and mayors are not in the same settlement, capital district, or county, or they have accepted multiple nominations in the same type of nomination, the election office, based on the signal given by the National Election System (NVR) when recording the request for a nomination sheet, informs the voter that the issuance of the nomination sheet is in violation of a legal prohibition and therefore the nomination sheets will not be issued.

2.In the case of the circumstances described in point 1, the election office shall provide the information without delay. The information shall state that the declaration of acceptance of the nomination, according to the data recorded in the NVR, is in violation of the provisions of Section 8 of the Övjt. and shall contain the specific data substantiating the information.

3.With regard to the activity of the election office described in point 1, a complaint may be filed with the election committee next to which the election office operates, based on Ve. Section 210.

This directive is aimed at interpreting the following provisions of the Ve.:

"120. § (1) A candidate can be nominated on a nomination sheet.

(2) The nomination sheet can be requested by a voter intending to run as an independent candidate, or by a nominating organization, from the election office operating next to the election committee with jurisdiction over the registration of the candidate, after the election has been scheduled.

(3) The request for a nomination sheet must contain the name, personal identifier, or in its absence, the type and number of the document proving Hungarian citizenship, and the place of residence of the voter intending to run as a candidate, as well as their declaration that

a) they accept the nomination,"

"121. § (2) The election office shall hand over the requested number of nomination sheets to the applicant without delay after the request, but at the earliest on the forty-eighth day before the vote. The election office shall provide all nomination sheets with a serial number and a certifying stamp impression."

The provisions of Act L of 2010 on the election of local government representatives and mayors (hereinafter: Övjt.) taken into account during the issuance of the directive:

"8. § (1) A voter may recommend multiple candidates or lists per type of nomination, but may only accept nominations in one settlement, capital district, or county.

(2) In the individual list election system, a voter may accept a maximum of one mayoral, one individual list, and one county list nomination at the same time.

(3) In the mixed election system, a voter may accept at the same time:

a) outside the capital, a maximum of one individual constituency, one compensation, and one county list nomination,

b) in the capital, one individual constituency, one compensation list, and one capital compensation list nomination,

c) if the candidate in Budapest wins a mandate from both a capital district compensation list and a capital compensation list, they must declare within 3 days after the vote which one they accept. The candidate must be removed from the list from which they did not accept the mandate.

(4) In the mixed election system, a mayoral candidate may accept at the same time:

a) outside the capital, one individual constituency, one compensation, and one county list nomination,

b) in the capital, one individual constituency, one compensation list, and one capital compensation list nomination.

(5) The mayoral candidate may only accept a capital compensation list nomination.

(6) A voter cannot be a candidate on a capital compensation list and a county list at the same time. A voter cannot be a candidate on a county list and in a city with county rights at the same time. A voter cannot be a candidate on a county list and a mayoral candidate in a city with county rights at the same time."

The provisions of the Ve. taken into account during the issuance of the directive:

"210. § (1) The jurisdiction to adjudicate a complaint concerning the activity of the election office belongs to the election committee next to which the election office operates.

(2) If the election committee referred to in subsection (1) does not operate in the election, the complaint shall be adjudicated by the election committee next to which the superior election office of the election office operates."

Reasoning

According to the provisions of Övjt. Section 8, which lays down the substantive legal rules for the election of local government representatives and mayors, the following types of nominations can be distinguished in the mayoral election, the individual list and mixed election systems, the election of members of the capital assembly, and the election of members of the county assembly:

- mayoral candidate, Lord Mayor candidate;

- individual list representative candidate;

- individual constituency representative candidate;

- compensation list candidate;

- capital compensation list candidate;

- county list candidate.

According to Ve. Section 120 (3) b), a voter intending to run as a candidate must declare their acceptance of the nomination when submitting the request for a nomination sheet. When making this declaration, the voter must, however, take into account the provisions of Övjt. Section 8, according to which they can only accept nominations in one settlement, capital district, or county, and that they can only accept one nomination within one type of nomination. It also follows from the relationship between Övjt. Section 8 (1) and subsections (2)-(6) that if a voter intending to run as a candidate accepts several different nominations - in accordance with the rules of the law - in either the individual list election system or the mixed election system, they can only do so in the same settlement or capital district. Furthermore, the simultaneous acceptance of a county list and a mayoral or individual list nomination, or a nomination according to the mixed election system, can only happen in such a way that the voter accepts the nomination in the settlement that belongs to the county of their county list nomination and vice versa, accepts a county list nomination in a county that includes the settlement where they accept an individual, compensation list, or mayoral nomination. Övjt. Section 8 (2)-(6) clearly stipulates that a voter can only accept one nomination per type of nomination at the same time.

According to the grammatical interpretation of Ve. Section 120 (3), the conformity of the declaration of acceptance of the nomination with the referenced provisions of the Övjt. must also be examined when the request for a nomination sheet is submitted. The reception of the request for a nomination sheet, the examination of the request's conformity with the legal requirements, and the issuance of the nomination sheet are the tasks of the election office operating next to the election committee with jurisdiction over the registration of the candidate.

The election offices always record the requests for nomination sheets in the National Election System (NVR), and if it meets the legal requirements, the office hands over the sheets printed from the NVR to the applicant at the earliest on the forty-eighth day before the election.

However, the Ve. does not contain a provision on the procedure to be followed in the case where the request for a nomination sheet does not meet the legal requirements. It does not name any specific competence, either for the election offices or for the election committees, that would be the basis for them to refuse or deny the request for the issuance of a nomination sheet with a formalized decision.

However, given that, based on Ve. Section 120 (3) a), the declaration of acceptance of the nomination is an inseparable part of the request for a nomination sheet, which is only valid if the provisions of Övjt. Section 8 are complied with, the election office must examine the content of this declaration when the nomination sheet is submitted.

After the request is submitted, if this situation exists, the election office shall immediately inform the voter intending to run as a candidate in writing that, according to the NVR data, they have already accepted a nomination in the type of nomination specified in their submitted request for a nomination sheet, or that they do not wish to accept an individual, mayoral, or compensation list nomination in the same settlement or capital district, or that the settlement of the individual or mayoral nomination they wish to accept does not belong to the county where they have already accepted a county list nomination. Based on all this, the request is contrary to the provisions of Övjt. Section 8. Since the request for the issuance of a nomination sheet is in violation of the provisions of Övjt. Section 8, the sheets cannot be issued.

In addition to specifying the violation of the legal prohibition, the information from the local election office about an illegal request for a nomination sheet shall also contain which type of nomination and where the voter has already accepted a nomination in the case of multiple nominations, while in the case of a violation of Övjt. Section 8 (1), it shall list the different settlements, capital districts, or counties where they have accepted a nomination, and that a complaint can be filed with the local election committee regarding this information, based on Ve. Section 210 (1).

It would be contrary to the principle of the integrity of the election, the provisions of Övjt. Section 8 and Ve. Section 120 (3), and would also be extremely problematic from a data protection point of view, if the election bodies did not examine the declaration of acceptance of the nomination submitted by the voter intending to run as a candidate when requesting the nomination sheet. In this case, they would become the data controller of the data of the voters recommending them in such a way that - in the case of multiple nominations - the purpose of their data processing for one of their nominations would obviously not be fulfilled, and their declaration would be in violation of the provisions of positive law.

Budapest, 29 July 2014.

Dr. András Patyi
President of the National Election Committee

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