BackThe upper limit of HUF 1 million cannot be observed by the political parties if they wish to comply with their obligation, laid down in the Fundamental Law, to participate in the formation of the will of the people – says the author of a petition requesting the Ombudsman to initiate a constitutional review of the relevant provision of the Electoral Procedure Act.
According to the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights a lawful, stable and predictable electoral system is an indispensable precondition of popular representation based on the principle of democracy. An essential part of this system is the electoral campaign, which plays an important role in ensuring the possibility for voters to make responsible, conscious and informed decisions on which candidates and political parties to support.
The amount that political parties may legally devote to campaign purposes has remained unchanged for almost 15 years, whereas the costs of electoral programmes and campaign costs of candidates have increased significantly. A regulation contrary to economic rationality entails that political parties now face choices which would be unacceptable in a State based on the rule of law. This regulation is especially prejudicial to parties outside Parliament since it prevents them from competing successfully with parties represented in Parliament and hence much better known by the public.
In the opinion of the Ombudsman a mere increase of the amount for campaign purposes is not going to ensure that political parties do not exceed this legal limit. It is also necessary that the State should effectively control the utilisation of campaign funds. Consequently, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights has invited the Constitutional Court to examine the question whether the regulation of such control provides for the all the necessary constitutional guarantees or there has been a failure to act on the part of the law-maker.
The application can be read in Hungarian here.
Source: Commissioner for Fundamental Rights
