Election 2018 – Jobbik, LMP seek recount of votes in some districts

Patriotic people’s Jobbik will request recount of the votes in the recent national election in constituencies where a violation of the rules is suspected, Jobbik spokesman Péter Jakab said on Tuesday.

Jakab said “public opinion” suggested that ruling Fidesz has faked the results and added that the choice for candidates of the governing parties was “whether to go to parliament or to prison”. He insisted that apart from using “all base means” such as “transporting voters, distributing food, threatening officials or ensuring fast crossing at the border for Hungarian citizens from Ukraine” Fidesz also “received some extra assistance” from the National Election Office (NVI).

The spokesman criticised the NVI because its server had broken down several times during the voting and preliminary results were not published “for hours” after the polls closed. He added that in the last half hour of the voting “some 170,000-180,000 votes disappeared”.

In the requested procedure, Jobbik’s representatives would match the election minutes of the constituency and the register of the National Election Office, Jakab said.

Concerning the recent resignation of Jobbik head Gábor Vona, the spokesman said that the party had acknowledged Vona’s decision but added that “resignation of the full board is not on the agenda”.

Asked about reports that daily Magyar Nemzet and Lánchíd Radio would be closed down, Jakab said it would be “a black day for Hungary’s free press”.

On the same day, LMP announced that it would also investigate the “background to the flood of compliants” the party has received.

Ákos Hadházy, LMP’s outgoing co-leader, said a full recount of the votes “could hardly be avoided”.

Concerning problematic cases, Szél mentioned a constituency where there was a significant difference between votes on LMP’s individual candidate and the party list, and noted that there were constituencies where the election committee did not include members delegated by the opposition. In those districts, she said, votes should be recounted in the presence of independent observers.

Hadházy said that “it seems obvious that there has been massive fraud”, and wondered if the central register may have been interfered with. He said a breakdown of the system on Sunday morning was “baffling” and also noted the “extremely slow” reporting of results in the evening.

Szél was asked about her responsibility concerning the opposition’s failure at the election, and she anwered that

“I feel the responsibility; what happened on Sunday was a terrible slap in the face”

and said that she had initiated re-election of the leaders of her party, including the chairpersons.

Asked about press reports that LMP’s Péter Ungár, who appears to have won a seat in parliament, is planning to purchase the daily Magyar Nemzet, Szél said that Ungár’s “sole purpose is to prevent the paper from falling in the hands of (state) propaganda”.

Featured image: MTI