Hungary: Legislation to End Foreign Election Interference On the Way

Unprecedented election interference before the April 2022 parliamentary elections coupled with disturbing evidence pointing at foreign financing of opposition groups has prompted the Hungarian government to introduce new legislation meant to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.

The scandal involving US and European groups financing the far left-to far right pre-election coalition in Hungary, as described in the intelligence services’ recent report, was a clear attempt to replace the country’s democratically elected government with one subservient to Washington and Brussels’ political goals.

Not only Hungary, but neighboring countries have also experienced the effect of left-wing NGOs and lobby-groups’ clandestine, sometimes brazenly open interference in the democratic process. In Slovakia a week before the September parliamentary elections things went as far as the U.S. Ambassador bragging about donating millions of dollars to the left-wing government in order to silence political opponents, and pressuring U.S. technology giants to shut down pages of politicians he deemed uncomfortable.

In response to these incidents, a Hungarian Office for the Protection of Sovereignty will be established, and candidates or officials of nominating organizations concerned who use foreign funding will be punished with prison sentences in local government and European Parliament elections.

The government is also initiating a relevant amendment to the Fundamental Law.

The Criminal Code will be amended to include a section on “illicitly influencing the will of the electorate”. A member, responsible person or official of a nominating organization who uses prohibited foreign funding will be punishable with imprisonment of up to three years – reads the bill.

The planned legislation, which requires a two-thirds parliamentary support, is likely to be challenged by European courts and institutions, and is expected to be criticized by European mainstream media.

https://hungarytoday.hu/legislation-to-end-brazen-foreign-election-interference-on-the-way/