Since Hungarian law does not recognize the concept of primaries, the EU data protection directives apply to the conduct, Attila Péterfalvi, president of the National Data Protection and Freedom of Information Authority (NAIH), told Mandiner. According to him, the official website that also enables registration should contain a data protection information. However, we did not find one. The president also called it worrisome that minors will be able to vote.
According to Attila Péterfalvi, the opposition primary raises several questions from a data protection point of view. The president of the National Data Protection and Freedom of Information Authority (NAIH) said to Mandiner's question: Hungarian law does not recognize the institution of primary elections, therefore the rules of the GDPR, i.e. the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, apply. This covers everything from data management to data security.
In this case, the data management is not based on legislation, but on the basis of the voluntary, definite consent of the person concerned, based on all-encompassing information, explained the president.
The data of the participants in the primary election are considered special personal data, as they contain political opinions, emphasized Péterfalvi. According to his point of view, this situation exists not only in relation to the casting of the vote, but also in connection with the registration, i.e. that stricter rules apply to the protection of this data.
Péterfalvi said: the NAIH does not ex officio investigate the primary election from a data protection point of view, this can only take place if someone addresses them with a complaint. So far, this has not happened, he added. At the same time, the president emphasized, "a detailed data protection information sheet is absolutely necessary, the consent of the affected parties can only be considered valid in this case.
However, there is no such thing to be found on elovalasztas2021.hu, the official website of the primary election, nor is there any indication that it can be found on any other website.
Péterfalvi also addressed an earlier debate about whether young people who will not come of age until next year, in time for the parliamentary elections, can vote in the primaries.
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According to the primary election page, this is possible, in which case a parental consent statement must be signed by one of the parents (or their legal representative) and the young voter.
According to Péterfalvi, this raises data protection concerns. As he said, based on the GDPR, the age limit can only be lowered in the case of information society-related services affecting children, but preselection is obviously not in this category. Therefore, the general rules must be applied.
He added that the rules for parliamentary elections are clear, only citizens who have reached the age of 18 can vote.
The requirement of parental consent can also lead to absurd situations, said Péterfalvi, as it may happen that the parent does not give consent, or some other dispute arises between the parent and the child, which the guardianship authority will have to clarify in the end. Péterfalvi also emphasized that "the data of those who registered for the primary election and those who participated can only be used for the purposes for which they gave their consent."
And the sympathizer data collected by the parties will not be "put into the pool", i.e. shared with each other. This is only possible with the consent of the person concerned. The president also said that state registers, IT security, identification systems, solutions such as the customer portal cannot be included in the primary election system.
He emphasized that, from a data protection point of view, in the event of a possible injury or dispute, the persons concerned must also be provided with a legal remedy. The president of the NAIH also touched on the fact that other types of data management rules apply to the nomination and voting situation. In one case, the purpose of data management is to nominate a candidate, to support a candidate, and in the other, the purpose is to ensure that a voter casts only one vote.
Source: mandiner.hu
Photo: Márton Mandiner Ficsor
