Election type

Act C of 1997 on Electoral Procedure (as amended by the act XCII of 2004). Note: amendment included the external voting articles.

Voting at foreign representations.

§ 71/A (1) Voting at foreign representations is possible if the host state does not object to it. No voting shall be carried out at those foreign representations, where no voter has been enrolled.

(2) The duties set forth in Article 61-71 as to be carried out by the ballot counting committee will be fulfilled and the disputes arising during voting will be decided by the election office at the foreign representation. Article 61 (3) and (4) shall not be applied.

(3) The image of the ballot-paper will be sent by the National Election Office to election offices at the foreign representations, which produce ballot-papers by printing this image. Election offices at foreign representations will print twice as many ballot-papers as many voters are included in the electoral roll at foreign representations. Election offices at foreign representations will maintain records of the ballot-papers printed.

(4) Voters entered in the electoral roll at foreign representations may vote at the foreign representation, or, if the building of the foreign representation is not suitable for conducting voting, in another room provided by the foreign representation. At the polling station minimum one polling booth shall be set up and one ballot-box shall be erected.

(5) At foreign representations votes may be cast on the polling day in Hungary, between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. local time. At the foreign representations where the time difference is -1 hour or -2 hours compared to Central European time zone, votes may be cast between 6 a.m. local time and 7 p.m. CET. At foreign representations established on the American continent votes may be cast on the day prior to voting in Hungary, votes may be cast between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time.

(6) During voting the polling station shall not be closed, and voting shall not be extended, or, except for extraordinary circumstances, discontinued. If on the polling day voting becomes impossible due to an accidental external cause, the persons present shall immediately suspend voting, sequester the ballot-box and the documents, and immediately advise the National Election Committee about the fact of such suspension to ensure the lawful continuation of voting.

§ 71/B (1) The election office at the foreign representation shall, on the grounds of a certificate issued by a Hungarian authority suitable for establishing identity, establish the identity of the citizen who intends to vote, and if they are included in the electoral roll at the foreign representation. Anyone who cannot prove his or her identity as set forth above, or is not included in the electoral roll at the foreign representation shall be rejected.

(2) When handing over the ballot-paper and the envelope to the voter, a member of the election office will fill in a statement on voting, which contains the voter's first name and family name, address, personal identification number. The voter will sign the statement on voting, and a member of the election office will authenticate it.

(3) After having filled it in, the voter will place the ballot-paper into the envelope serving this purpose, and will close the envelope. The voter will hand over the closed envelope and the statement on voting to the member of the election office at the foreign representation, who places them into another (outside) envelope in the presence of the voter, closes it and hands it over to the voter. The voter will sign the outside envelope where it is sealed, and will place it into the ballot-box.

(4) If until an hour before closing voting no voter has voted at the foreign representation, a member of the foreign representation election office may be the first voter.

(5) Voting shall be closed also when all the voters registered at the foreign representation have cast their vote.

http://www.valasztas.hu/en/parval2010/296/296_2_1.html

A CITIZENS' GUIDE to casting your vote in the referendum 
at the embassies of the Republic of Hungary

Citizens of Hungary,

The President of the Republic issued a writ for a binding national referendum to be held on December 5th 2004. At the referendum, Hungarian citizens having the right of vote who are outside of Hungary on Polling Day may cast their votes at the embassies of the Republic of Hungary. In order to be able to vote in that manner, however, citizens have to apply for registration in the embassy register of voters.

http://www.valasztas.hu/nepszav04/en/informaciok/informacio-fr.html

Citizens were first allowed to cast their vote abroad on 5 December 2004, at a referendum on the question: ‘Do you agree that public health service providers and hospitals should remain in state and local government ownership, and that Parliament should therefore repeal the law which is inconsistent with this?’