2/2018. NVB Guidelines for the National Election Commission 1/2014, 4/2014, 5/2014, 6/2014, 7/2014, 10/2014. and 11/2014. To change NVB's guidance

2/2018. NEC Directive

on the amendment of the NEC Directives 1/2014, 4/2014, 5/2014, 6/2014, 7/2014, 10/2014 and 11/2014 [1]

The National Election Committee, acting within its competence as laid down in Section 51 (1) of Act XXXVI of 2013 on Electoral Procedure (hereinafter: Ve.) - on the initiative of the President of the National Election Office - with 5 votes in favour and 0 against, issues the following

directive

adja ki:

• Amendment of the 1/2014. NEC Directive on recommendation sheets and the recommendation process
• Point 4 of the directive is replaced by the following provision:

"4. Pursuant to Section 124 (1) of the Ve., the candidate is reported to the election committee responsible for registration by handing over the recommendation sheets containing the appropriate number of recommendations and the form specified in the ministerial decree. According to the National Election Committee, it is possible to submit recommendation sheets even after the candidate has been reported, but all the provided recommendation sheets must be handed over to the election office no later than the deadline for reporting the candidate. In case of failure to comply with this obligation, in accordance with Section 124 (2) of the Ve., the election committee responsible for the candidate's registration shall impose a fine. An exception to this rule are recommendation sheets that do not contain a recommendation, which can be returned on the day following the deadline for reporting without a fine. However, a fine must be imposed for recommendation sheets without recommendations submitted after this."

• Among the provisions of the Ve. interpreted and literally quoted in the directive, Section 124, Section 307/G (1) and Section 307/I (1) are replaced by the following provisions:

"124. § (1) The candidate must be reported to the election committee responsible for their registration by handing over the recommendation sheets.

(2) A voter who intends to run as an independent candidate, or a nominating organization that intends to nominate a candidate, is obliged to hand over all the provided recommendation sheets to the election office within the deadline for reporting the candidate. In case of failure to comply with this obligation, the election committee responsible for the candidate's registration shall, acting ex officio, impose a fine. The amount of the fine is ten thousand forints for each recommendation sheet not submitted.

(3) A fine may not be imposed for a recommendation sheet without a recommendation that is submitted no later than the day following the deadline under paragraph (2)."

"307/G. § (1) The individual list and individual constituency candidate, the mayoral candidate and the metropolitan mayoral candidate must be reported no later than the thirty-fourth day before the vote."

"307/I. § (1) The compensatory list, the metropolitan compensatory list and the county list must be reported no later than the thirty-third day before the vote."

• Among the legal provisions taken into account and literally quoted in the interpretation contained in the directive, Section 9 (2)-(4) of Act L of 2010 on the election of local government representatives and mayors is replaced by the following provisions:

"9. § (2) In the county constituency, a list may be nominated by a nominating organization that has collected the recommendations of 0.5% of the voters in the constituency.

(3) A person is a mayoral candidate if they are nominated by at least

a) 3% of the voters in a settlement with 10,000 or fewer inhabitants,

b) at least 300 voters in a settlement with more than 10,000 but no more than 100,000 inhabitants,

c) at least 500 voters in a settlement with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

(4) A person is a metropolitan mayoral candidate if they are nominated by at least 5000 metropolitan voters."

• Amendment of the 4/2014. NEC Directive on the name change of nominating organizations

The second sentence of the first paragraph of the reasoning of the directive is replaced by the following provision:

"Based on Section 4 (1)-(2) of Act CLXXV of 2011 on the right of association, public benefit status, and the operation and support of civil organizations and Act V of 2013 on the Civil Code (hereinafter: Ptk.), a party is a legal person created on the basis of the right of association, which comes into being upon registration."

• Amendment of the 5/2014. NEC Directive on certain issues of checking recommendations

Point 1 e) of the directive is replaced by the following provision:

"e) the settlement data of their address is abbreviated, but the settlement can be clearly identified during the check (e.g., Budapest-Bp., Debrecen-Db.);"

• Amendment of the 6/2014. NEC Directive on handing in the mail-in ballot paper and identification statement at the foreign mission

• The text of Annex 1, point 2 of Decree 17/2013. (VII. 17.) KIM on the management of the central electoral register and other electoral registers, and Section 16 (1) and (2) of Decree 28/2013. (XI. 15.) KIM on the detailed rules for the implementation of tasks within the competence of the election offices in the election of parliamentary representatives and members of the European Parliament, on the forms to be used in the electoral procedure, and on the determination of the scope of the nationally aggregated data of the election result, interpreted and literally quoted in the directive, are replaced by the following provisions:

"Decree 17/2013. (VII. 17.) KIM on the management of the central electoral register and other electoral registers (Knr.) Annex 1:

2. Pursuant to Section 277 (2) c) of the Ve., a voter who does not have a residential address in Hungary may pick up the ballot package at the following foreign missions:

a. Embassy of Hungary, Belgrade

b. Consulate of Hungary, Beregszász

c. Embassy of Hungary, Bucharest

d. Consulate General of Hungary, Csíkszereda

e. Consulate General of Hungary, Kassa

f. Consulate General of Hungary, Kolozsvár

g. Embassy of Hungary, Pozsony

h. Consulate General of Hungary, Szabadka

i. Consulate General of Hungary, Ungvár

j. Consulate General of Hungary, Eszék

k. Embassy of Hungary, Kyiv

l. Consulate General of Hungary, Lendva"

"Decree 1/2018. (I. 3.) IM on the detailed rules for the implementation of tasks within the competence of the election offices in the election of parliamentary representatives, on the determination of the scope of the nationally aggregated data of the election result, on the forms to be used in the electoral procedure, and on the amendment of certain election-related decrees:

12. § (1) The foreign mission election office (hereinafter: KÜVI) - in addition to its tasks laid down in the Ve. –

(..)

b) carries out the information tasks related to voting at foreign missions and mail-in voting,

(..)

e) from the fifteenth day before the vote, on every working day in the building of the foreign mission

ea) provides a separate ballot box for handing in the return envelopes of mail-in voters, which is continuously supervised during the time available for handing in the return envelope,

eb) counts the return envelopes received by the KÜVI by post and places them in the ballot box, and draws up a separate protocol on this, which also contains the number of return envelopes received by post,

ec) after the closing time for handing in the return envelope, opens the ballot box, counts the return envelopes placed in the ballot box on that day, and wraps them in such a way that the contents of the package cannot be altered without violating the wrapping,

ed) records the number of return envelopes placed in the ballot box on that day in the IT system,

f) ensures the safe storage of the packages containing the return envelopes until they are forwarded to the NVI,

(..)

(3) The KÜVI operating at the foreign mission specified in Annex 1, point 2 of the Knr.

a) prints and authenticates the list of voters who pick up the ballot package at the foreign mission, and informs the NVI about this in the IT system, and

b) after checking the identity - based on a document suitable for proving identity issued by a Hungarian or other authority - and confirming the receipt, hands over the ballot package to the voter on the list."

• The first sentence of the reasoning of the directive is replaced by the following provision:

"The Ve. allows a voter who does not have a residential address in Hungary to pick up the ballot package at the foreign mission specified in Annex 1, point 2 of the Knr., and also to hand in the return envelope containing their vote at the foreign mission."

• Amendment of the 7/2014. NEC Directive on the replacement of a spoiled or damaged mail-in ballot paper

The second sentence of the first paragraph of the reasoning of the directive is replaced by the following provision:

"This provision must also be applied during the personal voting of voters with a residential address in Hungary at foreign missions, based on Section 269 (3) of the Ve., with the foreign mission election office acting instead of the ballot counting committee."

The first sentence of the third paragraph of the reasoning of the directive is replaced by the following provision:

"Based on Section 21 (1) o) of Decree 1/2018. (I. 3.) IM on the detailed rules for the implementation of tasks within the competence of the election offices in the election of parliamentary representatives, on the determination of the scope of the nationally aggregated data of the election result, on the forms to be used in the electoral procedure, and on the amendment of certain election-related decrees, the National Election Office "shall send the ballot package by post to the voters on the register of mail-in voters, or deliver it to the foreign mission or settlement designated by the voter; in the ballot package, it shall send or deliver a return envelope to the voters on the register of mail-in voters that can be posted postage-free both in Hungary and abroad"."

• Amendment of the 10/2014. NEC Directive on certain issues regarding the handling of transfer requests related to the polling station register

• The text of Section 91 (1) and Section 95 (1) of the Ve. interpreted and literally quoted in the directive is replaced by the following provisions:

"91. § (1) A voter with a residential address in Hungary may submit a request related to the central electoral register

a) in person to the local election office of their place of residence or stay, or

b) by post, electronically after electronic identification or without identification electronically to the local election office of their address.

nyújthatja be.”

"95. § (1) The election office shall decide on the rejection of a request under Section 84, Section 85, Section 97 (1) a) and Section 334, and on the deletion under Section 97 (1) b) and Section 97 (2) b) by a decision. The provisions of Section 46 shall apply to the decision. The reason for the rejection or deletion must be stated precisely in the decision."

• Point I and paragraphs 1 and 3 of point II of the reasoning of the directive are replaced by the following provisions:

According to Section 250 of the Ve., a voter who is in Hungary on the day of voting but in a polling district other than their residential address may submit a request for transfer to the local election office of their address no later than 4 pm on the second day before the election. If the election office accepts the transfer request, it shall delete the voter from the polling station register of their residential address and at the same time enter them in the register of the designated polling station. The transferring voter may modify or withdraw their transfer request until the aforementioned deadline.

Section 91 of the Ve. regulates the method of submitting a request related to the central electoral register, which provision also applies to transfer requests based on Section 110 (1) of the Ve. Accordingly, the voter may submit their request electronically after electronic identification or without identification electronically, in person to the local election office of their place of residence or stay, and by post.

In the case of submitting a request electronically without identification, and in the case of submitting a request by post, the exclusion of abuse is served by the fact that, according to Section 93 (1) of the Ve., the request can only be accepted if the voter's data in the request matches the data in the register of personal and address data of citizens, and according to Section 95 (3) of the Ve., the decision on the request must be sent to the voter's address.

II.

However, in the context of internet administration without electronic identification, it cannot be ruled out with complete certainty that someone submits a fraudulent and bad-faith request related to the register in the name of another voter using their data. This act may also exhaust the elements of several serious crimes defined in the special part of Act C of 2012 on the Criminal Code.

(..)

From the 7th day before the election of parliamentary representatives, the postal delivery of a decision on requests related to the polling station register is not guaranteed for the applicant until the day of the election, so it is extremely important to notify the citizen of the decision on the transfer request in order for them to be able to take action to withdraw or modify the transfer request within the deadline specified in Section 250 (5) of the Ve."

1. Amendment of the 11/2014. NEC Directive on the interpretation of the rules of the relative territorial campaign ban

Point 6 of the reasoning of the directive is replaced by the following provision:

"The rule of the Ve. on the relative territorial campaign ban is a general rule that applies generally on the day of voting and in the area designated by the law. This special campaign ban is not lifted even if the procedures of two elections are running in parallel, and based on the relevant legal provisions, the prohibition under Section 143 of the Ve. does not apply in connection with one of the elections, and an election campaign could be lawfully conducted without territorial and time restrictions. It follows from the purpose and function of the relative territorial campaign ban detailed above that on the day of a general or by-election of parliamentary representatives, members of the European Parliament, local, or national minority self-government representatives, no election campaigning may be conducted within 150 meters of the entrance to the building containing the polling station that serves to approach the polling station - in a public area - with reference to or in connection with another general or by-election."

The National Election Office shall immediately publish the consolidated text of the amended directives on the official website of the elections.

Reasoning

General reasoning

At its meeting on January 23, 2018, the National Election Committee, in its minute decisions no. 6, 7 and 9, decided that, based on the proposal of the President of the National Election Office, it would carry out a substantive and formal review of the NEC directives issued in connection with the interpretation of the rules of the election of parliamentary representatives, and would implement the necessary amendments to the directives. In this context, the NEC directives 1/2014, 4/2014, 5/2014, 6/2014, 7/2014, 10/2014 and 11/2014 are amended, of which the operative part of the 1/2014. NEC directive on recommendation sheets and the recommendation process and the 5/2014. NEC directive on certain issues of checking recommendations are also amended, while in the case of the other directives, it is sufficient to implement the legal changes that have occurred since their issuance and to make minor amendments to the reasoning of the directives.

Detailed reasoning

To point 1

The amendment of Section 124 of the Ve. came into force on June 18, 2014, as a result of which the amount of the fine to be imposed for failure to return the recommendation sheets within the deadline was amended, and the section was supplemented with a new paragraph (3). The substantive amendment of the 1/2014. NEC directive is justified by the introduction of the new provision, which makes it possible to return empty sheets that do not contain a voter recommendation to the election office on the day following the deadline for candidate nomination without the legal consequence of a fine. Point 4 of the directive was based on the regulation in force on February 9, 2014, when it was adopted, and contains a general provision that all recommendation sheets must be returned by the deadline for reporting the candidate. It is necessary to supplement this provision with a reference to the rule contained in Section 124 (3).

In addition to the provisions of Section 124 literally quoted in the 1/2014. NEC directive, it is also necessary to implement the currently effective provisions of Section 307/G (1) and Section 307/I (1), which have changed since the directive was issued. In these latter two legal provisions, the statutory deadline for reporting candidates and lists has been amended, but this does not make it necessary to amend the operative part of the directive.

Section 9 (2)-(4) of Act L of 2010 on the election of local government representatives and mayors, which was taken into account and literally quoted in the interpretation contained in the directive, has also changed since its issuance on February 9, 2014, so these are also replaced by the provisions in force at the time of the amendment. The legal changes, which relate to the number of recommendations to be collected for candidate representatives and (metropolitan) mayoral candidates, do not affect the principled finding contained in the directive.

To point 2

After the issuance of the 4/2014. NEC directive on February 17, 2014, Act V of 2013 on the Civil Code (Ptk.), which replaced Act IV of 1959, came into force on March 15, 2014. Given that the provision of the old Civil Code on the creation of an association - a special form of which is a party - is contained in the new code with the same content, it is not necessary to further amend the reasoning beyond the reference to the effective law.

To point 3

When the 5/2014. NEC directive was issued on February 25, 2014, the sample of the recommendation sheet was determined by Annex 20 of Decree 28/2013. (XI. 15.) KIM, according to which the voter giving the recommendation had to indicate the postal code, the name of the settlement, and the street and house number when providing their address data. In the 2018 election of parliamentary representatives, the sample of the recommendation sheet is determined by Annex 12 of Decree 1/2018. (I. 3.) IM, which no longer requires the indication of the postal code, but only prescribes the name of the settlement and the street and house number. This change makes it necessary to amend the directive, so that in point 1 e) the p