Hungarian government doesn't accept Strasbourg ruling about Hungarian electoral rules being unlawful

After lengthy deliberation, the Hungarian government has decided not to accept the Strasbourg ruling which states that the part of the Hungarian electoral system regulating the voting of national minorities is unlawful, and will instead request a review of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, the Ministry of Justice said in response to a question from hvg.hu.

According to the ruling of the Strasbourg Court, the part of the Hungarian electoral system regulating minority and national minority voting violates the European Convention on Human Rights. The court ruled in November that the law does not sufficiently ensure "the free expression of the people's opinion in the election of the legislative body". According to the ruling, there were concerns about the fact that those who vote for the national list have to give up their right to vote for the party list.

The judgment also states that the right to electoral confidentiality is infringed by the fact that the voting on the minority list is documented and that because one is only allowed to vote on a single list. On top of this, the national minority list is a closed one, which means that there is no way for the voters to genuinely express their will. The court also said that the fact that 11 of the 13 minorities in Hungary have no chance of electing a member of parliament because of their small size is a fundamental restriction of their rights.

The judgment required the modification of the unlawful legal framework, but did not provide a proposal on how exactly the legislator should change the legislation.

The Hungarian government had until 10 February to decide whether to accept the ruling.

In response to a question from hvg.hu, the government said it would not accept the ruling, as well as that it has requested that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber. A judicial screening panel will decide on the legitimacy of the request. If it is rejected, the judgment becomes final, if the request is allowed to go ahead, it will be sent to the Grand Chamber for re-examination and a public hearing, and the decision made there will be final.