3/2004. (IV. 26.) OVB resolution - The evaluation of complaints submitted in the election of members of the European Parliament

The National Election Committee, acting within its competence as laid down in Section 34 (2) a) of Act C of 1997 on Electoral Procedure (hereinafter: Ve.), issues the following

resolution

on the procedure for handling election complaints:

Based on Section 2 (2) of Act CXIII of 2003 on the election of members of the European Parliament, the territory of the Republic of Hungary constitutes a single constituency in the election. At the same time, however, some provisions of Chapter XI/A of the Ve. on the election of members of the European Parliament [Section 99/D (2) g) and (5) f), Section 99/F e), Section 99/K (2) c) and (5) c), and Section 99/L (3) e)] also order the application of the legal institution of a "constituency" in a different conceptual scope.

Section 77 of the Ve. provides as follows.

"Section 77 (1) A candidate, a nominating organization, an affected voter, or a legal person may file a complaint citing a violation of the election laws.
(2) A complaint may be filed against a resolution and other decisions of the election committee.
(3) A complaint and a complaint against a decision of the vote counting committee must be submitted to the election committee authorized to handle it. Other complaints must be submitted to the election committee that made the contested decision, which shall forward it together with the documents to the election committee or court authorized to handle it no later than the day following its receipt."

According to Section 99/A, Chapters I-X, as well as the provisions of Section 89, must be applied mutatis mutandis to the election of members of the European Parliament, with the deviations contained in this chapter (Sections 99/A-99/Q).

Based on Section 99/K (1), the following election committees operate in the election of members of the European Parliament:
a) vote counting committee,
b) vote counting committee operating in foreign missions,
c) local election committee performing the tasks of the vote counting committee in settlements with a single polling district,
d) territorial election committee,
e) National Election Committee.

Chapter XI/A of the Ve. on the election of members of the European Parliament establishes that the territorial election committee specified in Section 99/K (1) d) of the Ve. shall act in complaint cases - according to Section 77, which is to be applied based on Section 99/A of the Ve. -. Accordingly, the territorial election committees have a substantive procedural obligation to act in matters within their procedural competence [Section 77 (3) of the Ve.] during the election of members of the European Parliament.

This procedural compulsion - similarly to the procedural rules applied in the context of a national referendum - is not precluded by the substantive legal regulation according to which the territory of the Republic of Hungary constitutes a single constituency in the election of members of the European Parliament.

Budapest, 26 April 2004

Dr. Lajos Ficzere
President of the National Election Committee