Rationing of constituencies: rationalization or electoral nuclear bomb?

Electoral district boundaries will be changed if the parliament approves the amendment to the current law. According to Gergely Karácsony, it is Fidesz's revenge in the capital, but the political analyst speaks of a step forced by reality. In any case, the latter is confirmed by the 2022 report of the National Electoral Office, which spoke of adjusting district boundaries to reality as an urgent task.

The government would redraw the territories of all the representative districts in the capital by amending the electoral law. According to the submitted 65-page proposal, it would be reduced by two districts

the number of parliamentarians in the capital, which would thus decrease from the current 18 seats to 16. However, the County of Pest would gain from the amendment, as its current 12 electoral districts would swell to 14. In addition, the districts of Fejér and Csongrád-Csanád counties would also change.

As is known, the National Elections Office indicated not only after the 2022 parliamentary, but also after the municipal and European Union elections held in June this year, that the electoral districts must be adjusted to the real demographic situation of our country.

The current district allocation is not based on reality and therefore violates the law.

The current law governing the order of elections states that if the population of a given district changes by 20 percent or increases due to demographic processes or internal social movements, then the territorial division of the districts must be modified, that is, it must be adjusted to reality.

In recent years, Budapest's population has decreased by hundreds of thousands. When the current electoral district boundaries were drawn, the capital had a little more than two million inhabitants, but now this number has decreased to 1.7 million.

This large-scale weight loss occurred not only because of the negative demographic processes affecting all regions of our country, but also because many Budapest families decided to move to the agglomeration, i.e. Pest county. The National Elections Office already indicated at the time of the 2022 parliamentary elections that this movement exceeded the legally prescribed twenty percent level in several constituencies.

Christmas: Fidesz overthrows the electoral will

The law amendment proposed by the government now leaves the total number of 106 individual constituencies unchanged, but the loss of two constituencies affecting Budapest is bad for the opposition, since in 2022 the supporters of Péter Márki-Zay recruited from six parties in the capital received the most votes, numerically out of the available 18 17 of Gergely Karácsony has already indicated on social media: from there you can know that there will be an election in Hungary soon, that Fidesz wants to amend the election rules again.

According to the mayor of Budapest, "in the past decade, before every election, he tampered with the rules in order to favor himself and defeat the will to vote.

All of this, of course, without social dialogue and the involvement of opposition parties. Now I want to reduce the number of individual constituencies in Budapest from 18 to 16, so that the nation's capital will be represented in the parliament with a much smaller weight compared to its population ratio." According to Gergely Karácsony, the governing parties "are taking revenge for the fact that the capital voted against the government last time. If they continue like this, next time we will vote them out in an even greater proportion".

Dániel Deák: we have known for years that this step must be taken

Political analyst Dániel Deák reacted to the mayor's post on social media. According to him, the left-liberal press and the politicians are now presenting the fact that the number of constituencies in Budapest is decreasing as a sensation and a surprise, even though it has been known for years that this step must be taken.

According to the analyst, the law on the election of parliamentarians states: if the number of eligible voters in a constituency differs by more than twenty percent in any direction, the boundaries must be changed.

However, this is the situation in Budapest and Pest County.

"In this way, every voter's vote can be worth the same amount. The situation is similar in the counties of Somogy, Tolna and Fejér, where it is expected that the number of voters in individual parliamentary constituencies will differ from the national average," read Dániel Deák's commentary.

Ágnes Kunhalmi: In essence, they were crucified

"Today I woke up to the fact that I suddenly became a representative of four districts at the same time," Ágnes Kunhalmi, who has represented the XVIII district in parliament since 2018, told Index. 15th individual electoral district of Budapest, which includes the district, which would be completely dismantled according to the amendment tabled by the Judicial Committee.

According to Ágnes Kunhalmi, MP of the MSZP, open election fraud is taking place in Budapest:

Less than a year and a half before the next election, many of the country's constituencies would be redrawn with obvious intent. They would completely rewrite the constituencies in Budapest and punish the voters in the capital for not voting for the candidates of the ruling party. Districts would be split up, redrawn, and a large number of voters would be treated as simple statistical data, as chess pieces. They are preparing for an unprecedented election fraud, all in public. All elements of the submitted amendment, the method of implementation, the change prepared in complete secrecy are unacceptable.

The member of Parliament stated:

This is not the internal affairs of the politicians, this is about pushing the representatives who work for a decent living, normal salaries, teachers, doctors, nurses, transport workers and decent Hungarians out of the Parliament. This is not just election math, this is the impossibility of real representation. It says, "Hungarian citizen, it doesn't matter who you vote for, we will redraw the election rules for you at any time so that your vote is not valid." It is a shame that this can even be raised in Hungary today.

He added to the Index that with this amendment he was "essentially crucified" as an individual parliamentarian.

Szentkirályi: The emigration from Budapest started because of Christmas

"Gergely Kárácsony is deliberately lying, the mayor is a routine sociologist and pollster since the Gyurcsány governments," Alexandra Szentkirályi pointed out on her social media page.

“Which is why you must be deliberately misleading and inciting in your post this morning, not simply uninformed. He is lying that the government is reducing the number of individual constituencies in Budapest as a punishment because the citizens of the capital did not vote for Fidesz," said Alexandra Szentkirályi, emphasizing that instead of complaining about the mayor, we should look at the facts.

Alexandra Szentkirályi continued by saying that, as required by law, constituencies must have roughly the same population. "Nevertheless, thanks to the migrations of the past decade, while there are several constituencies with a population of 50-60,000 in Budapest, there are three constituencies with a population of 100,000 in the Pest County," he said, emphasizing that this cannot remain the case, and the legislator has the duty to change the constituencies.

- he concluded, and at the same time drew his attention to the fact that, instead of spreading horror stories and shouting, he should rather deal with his business, i.e. perform his duties as mayor in Budapest.

 

Source: hirado.hu , Hungarian Nation , Index

Front page photo: Vizslás, June 9, 2024.
A woman dressed in Vizslás national costume fills out the ballots in the local government, European Parliament (EP) and national elections in the voting circle in the Vizslás community center on June 9, 2024.
MTI/Péter Komka