Magyar News, 1999. szeptember-2000. augusztus (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2000-02-01 / 6. szám
w m§ m i M m m m áN crm&rn by László Papp Countries have different laws regulating citizenships, the rights that go with it and also the obligations. Some do not accept dual citizenships, then others let people have as many as they want. One may vote being in the country and not if one is spending that time in a foreign country. Also there is a problem affecting the young male population, that is to serve time in the military. A young man may not be allowed to leave the country when he is of recruiting age. And so on. The Hungarians have their own laws and with the changing times they are making adjustments. To get a clear picture of what the current citizenship laws are according to the Hungarian government, we asked László Papp, Regional President of the World Federation of Hungarians, to help us out. \_____________________________ Most of the first generation Hungarians living abroad were bom in Hungary, thus, they are by right citizens of the country of their birth. Since 1990 when the regime changed, many of these Hungarians were finally able to confirm the citizenship status by requesting and obtaining a Hungarian passport. I have asked the Ministry of Interior for the number of those Hungarian citizens residing abroad who have obtained a Hungarian passport, unfortunately, the Ministry does not maintain such a record. It is estimated at between five and twenty thousand Hungarians living in the US and other western countries who now have valid Hungarian passports. This is not a significant number compared with the ten million Hungarian citizens who actually live in Hungary. Large number or not, those Hungarians residing abroad who have obtained Hungarian passports (most of them having dual citizenship) want to have and enjoy the same rights and privileges as those of Hungary's residents including the right to own land and property to educate their children in Hungary and to vote in general elections. However, Hungary's Voting Act severely restricted the right to vote. This law is so restrictive, in fact' that even those Hungarians who are entitled to vote, lose that right when they are outside the country during election time. The Ministry of Commerce advises that at any given time there are thirty thousand Hungarian citizens living outside the country as business people, research scientists, students and the like. In addition fifteen hundred are in the diplomatic corps. None of them can vote either unless they return home on the day of the election. Hungary has not yet adopted any alternative rights to vote for anyone abroad at election time such as the absentee ballot, or the opportunity to vote at the embassies or consulates. In contrast, practically all other countries have granted voting rights to their citizens, regardless whether they are residing there or abroad, The citizens of Poland, Slovakia, Croatia and other countnes are allowed to cast their votes at their consulates during national election time. In Central Europe only Hungarians are forbidden from doing so. The World Federation of Hungarians has lobbied for years to obtain voting rights for those Hungarians having dual citizenship. Finally, Prime Minister Orbán announced in October 1999 during his Canadian trip that this will become a program of his Administration. During the yearly meeting of the "Hungarian Permanent Conferences” in November, the right to vote of dual citizens became the main topic of debate. Here the representatives of the Hungarian political parties met with delegates of the "outside" Hungarian organizations. Representing the World Federation of Hungarians, I submitted the Federation's request for the right to vote. I argued that Hungarians with dual citizenship are not satisfied with their existing "half citizenship" without voting rights. The Federation's position was supported by the ruling coalition parties but was rejected by the opposition. The opposition argued that dual citizens may have citizenship but do not pay taxes and do not bear the consequences of the ballot, accordingly, they should not enjoy the right to vote. I countered that there are many people who have the nght to vote although they do not pay taxes either such as pensioners arid those below the minimum income level. At the same time, many dual citizens send significant donations to Hungarian causes, and also perform valuable services as "Unofficial Ambassadors", when we lobby for the country’s interests such as NATO or European Community membership. Presently, our efforts to gain the voting right have not succeeded. Changing the Voting Act requires a two-third majority vote in Parliament. In order to obtain the necessary twothirds majority of Parliament the Federation will need to obtain the support of the opposition parties, especially the Socialists. Our task in the new year will be to accomplish this goal and finally obtain the right to vote for all Hungarian citizens. Page 1
