On 12 December, the Hungarian Parliament voted into law the amendments to the Act CXIII of 2003 on the Election of Members of the European Parliament tabled by the governing party in October (see GLOBALCIT News, 23 October 2018). The bill stipulates that the new law was required by the Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2018/994 of 13 July 2018 amending the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament that facilitated the enfranchisement of citizens residing in third countries in the elections to the European Parliament. Fidesz MPs supported amendments to the bill, while the opposition MPs abstained from voting. The amendments lift the residence requirement at the European Parliament election for Hungarian citizens living outside the European Union. As a result of the new rules, tens of thousands of Hungarians (most of them living in Serbia and Ukraine) will be eligible to vote in the 2019 European Parliamentary election.

For more information on political participation of mobile EU citizens in Hungary, read Szabolcs Pogonyi’s report, and for an overview of electoral rights in Hungary, check out our CER 2017 database.