Hungarian Human Chain Against Election Laws

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.

Listen to the report by correspondent Stefan Bos: