Questions & Answers

  • Voters have the right to prohibit electoral bodies from disclosing their personal data to nominating organisations for campaign purposes.

    Important: when receiving the recommendation forms, the minority nominating organisations must receive the names and addresses of all voters on the minority electoral roll to facilitate the collection of recommendations, including those who have previously been banned. This list may only be used for the purpose of collecting recommendations.

    Candidate organisations can request campaign data on the 38th and 13th days before the election, but this data no longer includes voters who have used a data ban.

  • Collect recommendations from 20 April 2024 (Saturday)

      • for the candidate for municipal government by 4 p.m. on Monday, May 6, 2024,
      • for the regional, national list until Tuesday May 7, 2024, at 4 p.m.

  • A minority voter may recommend several candidates or lists of a given minority, but only once for a single candidate or list. Only the candidates of the minority for which the voter is registered may be proposed.

  • There is no such obligation.

  • Candidates may only stand as candidates of a minority nominating organisation, no independent minority candidates.

    The nomination of a representative of a municipal minority self-government requires the recommendation of five percent of the voters on the minority register at the time of the election, but at least five voters.

    In the election of regional (county, county, capital) representatives of minority self-government, a minority organisation may put forward a list if it has put forward an independent candidate in at least ten percent of the elections for the election of representatives of municipal minority self-government in the capital or county and has collected the recommendations of at least two percent of the national minority voters.

    In the election of minority self-government representatives, a minority organisation may put forward a list if it has put forward an independent candidate in at least ten percent of the elections in the election of municipal minority self-government representatives and has collected the recommendations of at least two percent of the minority voters.

    The number of recommendations required was set by the Election Commission in its decision to call the election.

  • Who is on the national register at least from the date of the request for a recommendation form. Furthermore, there were no candidates of another minority in 2014 and 2019, or in the (by-elections) for the minority self-government elections that have been called since then. In addition, you must declare that you are willing to represent the minority, speak the language of the minority community, and are familiar with its culture and traditions.

  • The exact address of the polling station and the minority of the voter, if he/she has registered in the electoral roll, will be indicated in the notification sent. If you register your nationality after the notification has been sent, but before 4 p.m. on 31 May 2024 (Friday), you can vote in the same polling station where you vote for local government representatives and mayors. Unlike in the past, there is no separate polling station: you can vote for the European Parliament, municipal, regional (county, capital) or minority self-government in the same polling station as for mayors and representatives.

  • No, candidates and nominating organisations do not receive budget support for campaigning purposes in the election of members of minority self-governments.

  • A general election of the representatives of the municipal minority self-government shall be called if 

    a) the number of persons belonging to the given nationality in the municipality, according to the aggregated data of the last census data provided for the questions on belonging to the given minority, reaches 25 persons per nationality,

    b) the municipal self-government of the given minority has been formed in the settlement after the previous general election of the representatives of the minority self-government, and the number of persons belonging to the given minority - according to the aggregated data of the last census data provided for the questions on belonging to the given minority - reaches 20 persons per minority; or

    c) the settlement had a minority public education institution, a minority vocational training institution or a public education institution providing minority education on 1 December of the year preceding the year of the general election.

    Voting is only held in seats where there are at least as many candidates as there are seats to be elected (three or five).

  • No, because only Hungarian citizens can register as national voters.

  • Applications for inclusion in the minority electoral roll may be submitted online, by electronic identification, in person or by proxy using a form at any local election office in the mayor's office, or by identification until 4 p.m. on 31 May 2024.

  • Voters may apply for inclusion in the nationality register until 4 p.m. on Friday 31 May 2024. Anyone who does not request this will not be allowed to vote in the election of minority representatives.

  • The 13 nationalities are Bulgarian, Greek, Croatian, Polish, German, Armenian, Roma, Romanian, Ruthenian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Ukrainian and Polish.

  • Minority representatives are elected for five years, but the term of office of minority representatives elected on 9 June 2024 starts on 1 October 2024.

Before the election: information, nominations

  • Yes, the entry threshold is 5% for nominating organisations standing alone, 10% for two nominating organisations standing together and 15% for more than two nominating organisations standing together.

  • A minority voter may vote for a maximum number of candidates in the municipal elections, depending on the number of registered minority voters (three or five).

    In regional and elections to national minority self-government, valid votes can be cast for one list.

  • The ballot paper is produced in two languages: Hungarian and the language of the minority. An exception is the Armenian and Roma nationality ballot papers, which are printed only in Hungarian.

  • The number of representatives of minority self-government:

      • fifteen persons, if the number of voters on the minority electoral roll on the day of the election was not more than five thousand
      • twenty-three, if the number of voters on the minority electoral roll on the day of the election was more than five thousand
      • thirty-one, if the number of voters on the minority electoral roll on the day of the election was more than ten thousand
      • thirty-nine, if the number of voters on the minority electoral roll on the day of the election was more than twenty-five thousand,
      • forty-seven persons, if the number of voters on the minority electoral roll on the day of the election was more than fifty thousand.

  • The election of regional minority self-government representatives shall be called where the number of municipal elections called is at least ten (in the capital or in the county).The election of regional minority self-government representatives shall be called where the number of municipal elections called is at least ten (in the capital or in the county).

  • The county council and the minority council of the capital are composed of seven members.

  • The number of representatives of minority municipal governments:

      • three persons, if the number of voters entered in the minority electoral roll was less than one hundred persons on the day of the election in the settlement,
      • five persons, if the number of voters entered in the minority electoral roll on the day of the election was at least one hundred persons in the settlement.

  • The municipal, regional and national minority self-governments are also directly elected by the voters on the minority electoral roll.

Administration, election day

  • No. The green envelope containing the nationality ballot papers must always be sealed.

  • When voting, the voter must place the minority green ballot papers in the green envelope marked with the minority. The green envelope must be sealed, as any ballot papers in the unsealed envelope or outside the envelope are invalid.

  • There are no separate minority polling stations in the general election. You can vote in the same polling district for municipal, regional (county, capital) and national minority self-government elections as for local government representatives and mayors. The address of these can be found in the notice.

    Voting in the minority elections is open to those who are registered in the printed minority electoral roll - if they have registered in the minority electoral roll by 4 p.m. on Friday May 31, 2024, at the latest - and who sign the electoral roll when receiving the ballot papers.

    After signing the polling district's electoral roll, when receiving the ballot papers, pay attention to the ballot papers received. If you have not received a nationality ballot paper after the receipt of the ballot paper, the polling station commission may not issue a new ballot paper.

  • Voting on election day (Sunday, 9 June 2024) is open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

  • You can't.

  • No. You can only vote in person.

  • Because of the above legal reference, voters cannot vote in a hospital or prison for municipal and minority elections. Only if the address of the institution is in the same polling district as the citizen's address. In such a case, the voter can only vote in the election of a Member of the European Parliament, even by mobile ballot box.

  • Voters on the electoral roll:

      • with a medical condition (or disability),
      • or are prevented from doing so because of their detention.

    The election office or the polling station commission shall reject the request of those who request a mobile ballot box for other reasons (e.g. work, convenience).

    The application for a mobile ballot box can be submitted from April 4. 2024 (Thursday):

      • by mail to any local election office or online without electronic identification no later than 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5, 2024,
      • in person or by proxy at any local election office by 10 a.m. on Friday June 7, 2024,
      • by online electronic identification until 12 a.m. on the day of election (Sunday, 9 June 2024),
      • with or without by proxy by 12 a.m. on election day (Sunday, June 9, 2024) at the latest

    The mobile ballot box can only be requested to an address where the voter is registered in the electoral roll.

    It is important to note that those who have requested a mobile ballot box cannot vote in the polling station in the "traditional" way, only with a mobile ballot box! However, if the mobile ballot box is in the polling station, you may cast your vote in the polling station.

  • Yes. A voter (including a voter of a minority) who requests to vote in an accessible polling station by 4 p.m. on Wednesday 5 June 2024 and whose designated polling station at his/her address is not accessible, shall be transferred to an accessible polling district by the local election office. The form for this purpose may be submitted in person or by delivery by proxy to any local election office. Also by online electronic identification.

  • In the case of the election of local government representatives, voters may only apply for re-registration at the place where they had their place of residence on the 30th day prior to the election, or at the time of the decision on their application for absentee voting, at the same place of residence, and where their place of residence is valid at least until the day of the election.

    The same applies to voters in minority elections. A voter may be entered in the polling district electoral roll as a national minority voter in the settlement where he or she is entered in the polling district electoral roll for the election of local government representatives and mayors.

    If the absentee voting application is submitted and accepted, you can vote in the representative of your residence for the candidates standing in the municipality of your residence.

    If you are an absentee voter, you can vote for the candidates of the place of residence. However, in the case of elections for members of minority municipalities, this means that if no municipal and/or regional elections have been called in the municipality where the voter has re-registered, the voter will not be able to vote for these candidates, even if he/she would have been able to vote for them in the municipality of his/her residence. However, the reverse is also true: if a voter applies to absentee voting in a municipality where there is a municipal and/or regional election for his/her minority, he/she will be able to vote for these candidates even if he/she would not be able to vote for them in his/her municipality of residence.

MANDATE CALCULATION

  • I. The election of the representatives of the minority self-government of a municipal shall be successful if at least as many candidates receive votes as the number of representatives eligible for election.

    The candidates who receive the highest number of votes in the result of the election in terms of the number of representatives who can be elected will be elected. In the event of a tied vote, the candidates who obtain the same number of votes shall be drawn by lot.

    II-III The regional and national lists shall obtain seats in proportion to the votes cast for them. No list may obtain a mandate if it has not obtained at least five percent of the valid votes cast in the constituency - at least 10 percent in the case of a joint list, or at least 15 percent in the case of a joint list of more than two minority organisations.

    The number of seats obtained by the lists shall be determined by the following procedure:

    a) the number of votes cast for the lists eligible to obtain a mandate shall be added together,

    b) the amount obtained is divided by the number of seats to be allocated (the number of votes needed to obtain one seat),

    c) the number of votes cast for each eligible list shall be divided by the number of votes required to obtain one seat,

    d) each list obtains the number of seats equal to the whole of the quotient under c),

    if fewer seats are thus allocated than the number of seats to be allocated, the remaining seats shall be allocated to the lists in order of the fractions of their shares as defined in (c), from the larger to the smaller fraction; if two or more lists are equal in fractions of their fractions and would obtain a seat by that fraction, but the number of seats to be allocated is less than the number of lists concerned, the seats shall be allocated in the order of the number of lists concerned, from the lower to the higher number.

    The seats on the list are obtained by candidates in the order of their position on the list.

    If there are fewer candidates on the list than the number of seats obtained by the list, the unallocated seat remains vacant.

    An election is inconclusive if the number of seats allocated is less than the number needed for the body to function.