The National Election Committee, acting within its competence as laid down in Section 105/A (4) a) of Act C of 1997 on Electoral Procedure (hereinafter: Ve.), issues the following

resolution

on the establishment of the mandate of local government representatives in list-based local government elections:

According to Act XCVI of 2000 on certain issues concerning the legal status of local government representatives:

"Section 1 (1) The mandate, rights, and obligations of a local government representative (hereinafter: local government representative) are established upon their election and cease upon the termination of their mandate.

(2) A local government representative shall take an oath or make a vow with the wording applicable to the mayor at the constituent session of the representative body, the general assembly (hereinafter together: representative body) - in the case of an interim election, at the session following their election, and in the case of representatives who have obtained a mandate on a small list, a compensation list, or a county general assembly list, after receiving their letter of appointment - and sign a document about it. In case of a legal remedy against the election result, this shall happen after the legal remedy procedure is concluded.

Section 2 The mandate of a local government representative ceases:

a) on the day of the next general local government election following their election,"

The Ve. contains the following on the withdrawal of candidates:

"Section 53 (3) A maximum of three times as many candidates can be put on a list as the number of mandates that can be obtained on the list. The order of the candidates on the list is determined by the nominating organization and cannot be changed after the list has been submitted. If a candidate is withdrawn from the list, the next candidate in line on the list shall take their place."

"Section 58 A candidate is withdrawn if they have resigned in writing before the start of the vote, lost their right to vote, or died. The name of the withdrawn candidate must be deleted from the register of candidates and from the ballot papers."

"Section 67 (3) If a candidate is withdrawn after the ballot papers have been prepared, the vote counting committee is obliged to inform the voters of this fact by means of a notice placed in the polling station, and orally if necessary. The name of the withdrawn candidate must be crossed out on the ballot paper."

The rules for the withdrawal of a representative elected on a list are as follows:

According to Section 21 of Act L of 2010 on the election of local government representatives and mayors (Övjt.), if a representative elected from a county, compensation, or capital city list is withdrawn, they shall be replaced by a candidate from the originally submitted list, as announced by the nominating organization. If the nominating organization does not announce a candidate within the deadline specified in Section 115 (2) of Act C of 1997 on Electoral Procedure, the next candidate in line on the list shall take the vacant place.

According to Section 115 (2) of the Ve., "If a representative elected from a county, compensation, or capital city list is withdrawn, the nominating organization may announce the new candidate to the competent election committee within 30 days of the vacancy."

The position of the National Election Committee is - with regard to the generally accepted meaning of the wording of the legal regulation and the continuity of local government representation - that Section 1 (1) of Act XCVI of 2000 on certain issues concerning the legal status of local government representatives must be interpreted in such a way that the mandate of a local government representative elected at a general local government election is established with retroactive effect to the day of the election upon the final entry into force of the result, with the provision that the local government representative cannot exercise their rights until they have taken the oath.

The legal consequences of this for the list-based elections of local governments are as follows:

In the case of a candidate who is withdrawn from the list before the start of the vote, i.e., before 6:00 a.m. on the day of the vote (first sentence of Section 58 of the Ve.), the provisions of the second sentence of Section 58 of the Ve., and Section 67 (3) of the Ve. must be applied. In place of the withdrawn candidate, the next candidate in line on the list shall take their place, in accordance with the last sentence of Section 53 (3) of the Ve.

In the case of a candidate who is withdrawn from the list after the start of the vote and before the end of the vote, the next candidate in line on the list shall take their place, based on the last sentence of Section 53 (3) of the Ve. However, the second sentence of Section 58 of the Ve. and Section 67 (3) of the Ve. cannot be applied to a candidate who is withdrawn in the period between the start and the end of the vote, because this would violate the equality of suffrage, the requirement that every voter participates in the vote under equal conditions.

After the end of the vote, i.e., after 7:00 p.m. on the day of the vote, the elected candidate is considered a local government representative. Thus, in the case of their withdrawal, the provisions of Section 53 (3) of the Övjt. and Section 115 (2) of the Ve. must be applied to them. However, the election committee with competence and jurisdiction for this can only decide on the announcement of a new candidate to replace a representative who is withdrawn in the period between the end of the vote and the final establishment of the result, after the result has become final.

Dr. Péter Szigeti
President of the National Election Committee
elnöke

* Its text was established by Resolution 5/2010. OVB