Hungarians have formed a human chain around Hungary's parliament to protest changes
to electoral legislation that the government will introduce ahead of new elections
in 2014. Monday's demonstration was led by a former prime minister who claims Hungary
is moving towards dictatorship.
Fearing the end of democracy, several
thousand supporters of the opposition Democratic Coalition party formed a line around
Hungary's massive neo-Gothic parliament building towering over the Danube river.
As
darkness fell, demonstrators were seen burning candles, symbolically shining light
on what they said were plans by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's center-right government
to turn election laws into autocratic legislation.
The new laws would require
voters to register two weeks or more in advance of elections or face exclusion.
MANY
EXCLUDED?
Former Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, who leads the
Democratic Coalition, told Vatican Radio that many voters will not be able to participate
in the 2014 parliamentary poll.
"Twenty-five percent of the people to
attend the election and to vote for any party just in the last couple of days or last
one or two weeks," he noted.
The government counters that registration
is needed because many ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring countries have obtained Hungarian
citizenship — and voting rights — in the last few years.
Demonstrators also
expressed concern about changed electoral districts and government plans to ban political
ads on commercial broadcasters and most Hungarian websites, during the electoral campaign.
RULING
PARTY
Gyurcsány believes these measures are aimed at favouring the ruling Fidesz
party of Prime Minister Orban, which now controls a two-thirds majority in parliament.
"He
[Orbán] used his authorization to change Hungary," he said. "Hungary now is not a
democracy anymore, but not [yet] a dictatorship. It's somewhere between these two
positions. The Orban government is not considered to be a government for many people,
but it's a real regime."
Gyurcsány's party wants to ask international observers
to monitor the 2014 elections and has appealed to the European Union to investigate
the legality of the new election legislation.
It comes amid major changes in
this post-Communist nation: To reduce campaign costs and state bureaucracy, elections
from 2014 will only have one round — instead of two, as has been the case since 1990.
Additionally, the number of parliamentary deputies will be dramatically cut to 199,
from the current 386.