The lack of transparency and oversight over campaign finance favored the ruling alliance, OSCE election and referendum monitor Kari Henriksen said.Continue reading
The Czech observation mission Alipro deployed to monitor Hungary’s parliamentary election and referendum said on Tuesday that both procedures are solid, “leaving practically no room for fraud”.
During the campaign, many posters have been vandalised with “slanderous inscriptions or stickers mocking the candidate”. Such cases mostly occurred in cities, with posters of the governing parties and the Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) party, Alipro said.
In its statement sent to MTI, the observers said the Hungarian media landscape was “fairly balanced but polarised”, where media outlets “openly ascribing to one or the other political party”.
“Both opposition and government parties have free access to the media and the market share of the press is roughly evenly distributed along the political lines,” the observers said.
At the same time, social media platforms have become important campaign tools and news sources, Alipro said. Those platforms often block certain outlets, restricting their availability “without obvious reasons,” they said.
After visiting 15 polling stations across Hungary on April 3, the observers said that election procedural rules were strictly observed and no violations occurred.
“The Hungarian political, electoral, legal and media environment allow for a fair and free competition among all political parties and movements. Accordingly, Hungarians had the opportunity to exercise their right to vote and elect their representatives to the National Assembly,” the observation mission said.
Featured photo illustration by Attila Balázs/MTI