Report on political participation of mobile EU citizens: Hungary

In Hungary, resident non-national EU citizens are entitled to vote and stand as candidates in European Parliament elections. They are also entitled to vote and stand as candidates in local legislative and local mayoral elections in the municipality in which their residence is registered. EU citizens are obliged to submit a registration form in order to vote in these elections. Their access to the ballot is facilitated by information provided by the National Election Office. The process of registration could be made less burdensome, and provisions could be made for foreign language registration forms. Non-resident Hungarian citizens are entitled to vote in national legislative elections, and to stand as candidates apart from in single-seat constituencies. The enfranchisement of nonresident citizens is normatively complicated because of nationality law reforms, which made individuals with historical ties but who have never lived in Hungary eligible to be citizens. Furthermore, postal voting is available for these non-resident citizens, whereas it is not available for resident citizens who are absentees. It would be easy and normatively desirable to extend postal voting to absentees to address this inequality of voting opportunities.