The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Friday recommended sending, for the first time, an exceptional large-scale observer mission to Hungary for the April 3 parliamentary elections due to concerns about the integrity of this ballot.
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Hundreds of observers should be deployed in Hungary on election day, a poll which promises to be tight for the sovereignist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and not a limited mission of ten people like those who are usually sent in European Union countries, according to the OSCE report published on Friday.
According to the report of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE (ODIHR) based in Warsaw, eighteen observers should monitor the pre-election period throughout the country, and
"200 observers monitor punctually , polling day,
electoral procedures.
Viktor Orban's Fidesz party will face an alliance of six opposition parties that have come together to try to overthrow the sovereignist Prime Minister.
With polls showing that the Fidesz party and the opposition alliance were neck and neck in voting intentions, concerns arose about possible irregularities and vote-buying attempts.
Legislative changes introduced in 2021 also facilitate the possibility of registering fictitious addresses, which according to experts increases the risk of fraud.
In January, twenty Hungarian NGOs asked the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to send a large-scale mission to Hungary comprising hundreds of observers to monitor the election.
“A strong involvement of ODIHR in a systematic and comprehensive observation of the voting process on election day will increase public confidence in the electoral process, prevent irregularities during the last days of the campaign (and on election day itself) and therefore preserve the honesty of the democratic process
,” according to the Office.
A group of 62 members of the European Parliament belonging to different parties called in January on the OSCE to send a reinforced mission of observers to Hungary.
A previous mission in 2018
In the last elections in 2018, the OSCE sent a limited mission which concluded that the ballot had been
“characterized by a massive interweaving between state and ruling party resources, which undermined the ability of rivals to compete on an equal footing
”.
“Voters had (at their disposal) a wide range of political options, but intimidating and xenophobic rhetoric, media bias and opaque campaign funding narrowed the space for genuine political debate, preventing voters from to make their choice by being fully informed
,” the organization said.
Many recommendations from 2018 did not result in changes, the report noted on Friday.