Questions & Answers

    • Yes, they can. Under Article XXIII of the Hungarian Fundamental Law each Hungarian adult has the right to take part in the parliamentary election.
    • Here you can see how many Hungarian citizens having no residence in Hungary are enrolled in the central registration list.
    • Any Hungarian voters can request to be registered even if they do not have a Hungarian residence.
    • Namely, regardless of the country the Hungarian citizen lives in, and regardless of the citizenship he might have besides his Hungarian one.

  • ·    The electoral registration is an on-going process.

    ·    However, only those out-of-country citizens are allowed to take part in the upcoming election, whose application for the electoral registration has arrived to the National Election Office latest by 16.00 o’clock 24 March 2018. 

  • ·         The electoral registration is an on-going process.

    ·         However, only those out-of-country citizens are allowed to take part in the upcoming election, whose application for the electoral registration has arrived to the National Election Office latest by 16.00 o’clock 24 March 2018. 

  • ·      Requests can be submitted via mail or here.

    ·      Requests for electoral registration can be submitted via mail and can be downloaded here. There are also instructions for completing the form (“Information on the submission of the request for enrolment to the central electoral register”) is useful to read. Information in English, German and French can be found on our website.

    ·      Requests can be printed in colour and in black and white, and can be copied freely.

    ·      Requests should be mailed to: National Election Office, 1397 Budapest, Pf.: 547, Hungary.

  • ·         Hungarian citizenship is needed for the electoral registration.        

    ·         Enrolment can be requested if the applicant

    o   has a personal identification number (can be found on the address card) or

    o   a valid Hungarian passport, or

    o   can certify him/herself with a document of naturalization or

    o   with a certificate of citizenship,

    and

    o   has neither a residence nor a residence in Hungary,

    o   is over 17 years of age or is over 16 and is married, and the marriage has been registered in Hungary,

    and

    o   has not been disfranchised by Hungarian court.

    ·         In order to vote in the upcoming election the requests for registration should arrive to the National Election Office no later than 16.00 o’clock 24 March. Although Hungarian citizens over the age of 17 can request their enrolment, only adult voters are allowed to take part in the election.

    ·         Whether the voter is enrolled through registration or is automatically registered in the electoral register depends on what residence or residence he/she has, according to the Hungarian address register. Regarding this issue the following table provides a good guidance:

     

     

     

    residence

    temporary residence

    type of enrolment

    1.

    Hungarian address

    Hungarian address

    automatic

    2.

    Hungarian address

    none

    automatic

    3.

    foreign address

    Hungarian address

    registration!

    4.

    foreign address

    none

    registration!

    5.

    none

    Hungarian address

    automatic

    6.

    none

    none

    registration!

    7.

    if not enrolled in the address register

    registration!
     

    o   e.g. if the Hungarian voter is enrolled by his/her foreign address in the address register (address printed in the address card), he/she should register in order to exercise his/her voting rights, even if he/she has (3. row) or does not have (4. row) a temporary residence.

    o   Only those can be enrolled in the electoral register, who according to the address register are not registered (7. row) or have neither residence nor residence in Hungary (6. row).

    • There is no need for registration if one has a residence in Hungary (1. and 2. row) or if one has neither Hungarian nor foreign address enrolled in the address registration, but has a valid Hungarian residence according to his address card (5. row). In these cases you will be enrolled automatically, thus there is nothing else to do.

    ·         Those who have already registered before or after the parliamentary election in    2014 do not need to apply for registration for another 10 years.
    • No, they do not. Those out-of-country citizens having no residence in Hungary, who have registered before or after the 2014 elections are still on the electoral roll, thus they do not need to apply for enrolment again.
    • At the same time if your address has been changed since the registration or would like to receive the ballot paper at another address, or your marital status, name has been changed then you ought to submit an application for modification.
    • If your family member of Hungarian citizenship died, the Hungarian consulate nearby should be notified in order to make the necessary changes in the death registration.
    • Death registration is free of charge.

  • ·     The National Election Office makes the number of received applications - from those having no Hungarian residence - for registration available on its website and updates them daily.

    ·     Who registers from a country, where dual citizenship is banned (Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine), can find his/her postal address, without indicating the country, under the label “Total number of applicants from countries banning dual citizenship”.

  • If you receive a Hungarian residence until latest 16.00 o’clock 6 April, you do not need to register, you will be enrolled automatically.

     
    • If you established a place of residence in Hungary until 1 April – and notified the authorities about the change of residence - you will be automatically enrolled into the polling station electoral list according to your residence. In this case you can vote in person at the polling station according to your residence.
    • Those who received the voting package based on registration can only vote for the candidate of the constituency in person. In this case you can vote for the party list by sending back the ballot paper delivered to you, thus by postal voting.

  • ·     The National Election Office mails the voting package to the address (in Hungary or abroad) that has been indicated in the application form by the Hungarian voter, who has already registered, and has no Hungarian residence.

    ·     Voters may ask, in the application for registration, to collect the voting package in person. In this case it can be collected during working hours on weekdays two weeks prior to election day.

    o   in the single member constituencies,

    o   in designated Hungarian municipalities close to the border, or

    o   at designated foreign representations of Hungary

  • ·     Voters may change their address, where they would like to receive the ballot paper or can do so in connection with their already given details.

    ·     This application – like the one for enrolment – can be filled in and submitted via mail or here.

  • The voting package consists of the following:

    o   the ballot paper for voting via mail (that is valid without a stamp),

    o   a declaration form needed to identify the voter,

    o   an envelope to put the ballot into (inner, small envelope),

    o   a self-addressed envelope, where the address of the National Election Office has already been indicated, and can be mailed free of charge (even from abroad),

    o   information on how to vote.
    • Postal voters can only vote for the national party list.
    • They cannot vote either for the national minority list or for the candidate of a constituency.

  • The procedure of voting by mail is as follows:

    o   the voter fills in the ballot paper of postal voting,

    o   places the ballot paper into the inner, small envelope,

    o   closes the inner envelope,

    o   completely fills in the declaration of identification

    o   places the inner envelope and the declaration of identification into the big reply envelope and closes it.

     

    The vote is not valid if

    o   the inner envelope or the reply envelope is not closed,

    o   the identification declaration is not in the reply envelope,

    o   the small envelope is not in the reply envelope,

    o   the identification declaration is not filled in or is not signed,

    o   the data on the identification declaration are not equal with the ones registered,

    o   the ballot paper is not in the small envelope,

    o   the ballot paper is not filled in,

    o   the voter did not vote with the sign + or X,

    • if the voter cast his ballot for more parties at the same time.

  • The voting package

    o   can be mailed free; it should arrive at the National Election Office until 24:00 7 April at the National Election Office,

    o   can be submitted at any of the foreign representations ( the Consulate General in Berehove/Beregszász, Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda, Cluj-Napoca/Kolozsvár,Subotica/Szabadka and Uzhhorod/Ungvár are open with extended office hours) during working hours on weekdays two weeks prior to or on election day, between 9.00 and 16.00o’clock on election day,

    o   can be submitted at election offices of any single member constituency between 06.00 and 19:00 o’ clock (on election day) 8 April.
    • Hungarian citizens having no residence in Hungary are registered on the electoral roll for a period of ten years commencing from the date of registration.
    • The 10-year period shall begin to run automatically in case of data modification or taking part in the elections.

  • ·      Those Hungarian voters having no residence in Hungary who do not want to participate in the referendum do not need to do anything: postal ballot paper needn’t be sent back to or collected at the foreign representation.

    ·       Those voters with no Hungarian residence can apply for deletion from the electoral roll at any time. In this case they will not receive a voting package, cannot vote in the upcoming elections unless they re-register again.