Former President Trump admires Hungary's Victor Orban, who rules with a 2/3 parliamentary majority.
His 2010 electoral reform reduced the number of parliamentary seats, reorganized precincts, and terminated a second ballot, the “Balancing Mandate.” The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe criticized these changes as negatively influencing elections and observed that elections in 2014 and 2018 were “free but not fair.”
Orban’s new constitution curtails judiciary independence by declaring tax, financial laws, and constitutional changes untouchable by the courts. Minorities (Roma) are no longer members of the Hungarian nation. Courts can use precedence only when it was established after the constitutional reforms.
The European Commission has filed suits before the European Court accusing the Orban government of curtailing judicial independence, freedom of expression, academic freedom, protection of minorities, and rights of asylum-seekers and refugees.
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Public media laws limit the protection of journalistic sources and place public media under a National Supervisory Authority (NMHH). Government-aligned media have published lists of government-critical journalists.
Uwe Manthei
Midtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the ӰAV.