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RR RUEHAG RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHUP #0780/01 1031515
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131515Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9007
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BUDAPEST 000780 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS EUR/NCE MICHELLE LABONTE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV SOCI HU
SUBJECT: HUNGARY'S ELECTIONS:  ENERGETIC CAMPAIGN, CLEAN 
VOTE  (C-RE6-00145) 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 22644 
     ¶B. 05 BUDAPEST 1880 
 
------- 
Summary 
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¶1. (U) Since 1990, international observers have deemed all of 
Hungary's elections free and fair.  There is no basis for 
believing that outcome of the first round was affected by the 
alleged irregularities that have been reported in the course 
of the campaign.  On April 10, one day after the first round, 
National Election Commission chair Emilia Rytko informed the 
press that there had been no evidence of foul play.  Between 
the state-owned and opposition-friendly media outlets, all 
parties had opportunity take their message to the public.  In 
the course of this spirited campaign, there have been reports 
of minor abuses and excesses.  Campaign-financing regulations 
remain weak (reftel B), a situation that the major parties 
are unprepared to remedy.  This cable attempts to 
characterize the overall campaign and place reported abuses 
in context. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
The Campaign:  Spirited, with Minor Incidents 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Hungary's 2006 election campaign was generally a 
civil affair, with parties and candidates having broad access 
to the media, and the voters having ample opportunity to see 
the parties' true colors.  The process was unmarred by 
political violence.  The one-day "campaign silence" prior to 
the vote was respected.  Such incidents and allegations as 
appeared were isolated and did not influence the outcome of 
any race, let alone the national contest.  Post notes here 
that cries of "foul" were generally more characteristic of 
the opposition than the ruling coalition party machines. 
Such allegations as there were can be broadly categorized as 
follows: 
 
-- Data protection/privacy concerns:  The most prominent 
reported incident in this campaign has been the hacking of 
the MSZP party website from server.fidesz.hu on February 3. 
In an official statement, FIDESZ claimed that it had obtained 
the website password from a publicly-accessible online 
posting.  The police opened an investigation into the case. 
Secondly, MSZP's local organization in Gyula complained of a 
local city council employee who allegedly sent a list of 
names, addresses, e-mail addresses and party preferences of 
local residents to the campaign manager of the local FIDESZ 
candidate; FIDESZ spokesperson Peter Szijjarto denied any 
connection between the employee and the party's candidate. 
The National Election Commission examined the Gyula case as 
an instance of the possible abuse of voters' personal data. 
FIDESZ spokesperson Szijjarto reported that a briefcase 
containing MSZP campaign literature and personal data on 
residents of Pomaz was found on a commuter train; a related 
news report claimed that the findings consisted merely of 
"one election leaflet, three or four pieces of paper and 
business cards."  Police in Budapest's first district opened 
an investigation into the matter.  In the course of the 
campaign,  Thirdly, MSZP also charged that FIDESZ possesses 
personal information on all the country's voters.  FIDESZ, 
after initially denying that it held such information, later 
admitted that it indeed had lists of supporters but that it 
had compiled the lists during grass-roots campaigns of the 
last two years such as the National Consultation and the 
National Petition drives.  Party spokesman Szijjarto has 
admitted to FIDESZ buying a list of first-time voters, but he 
stated that the party had subsequently destroyed the list. 
(Note:  In April, FIDESZ communications director Tamas 
Deutsch-Fur ackowledged that the party is directing activists 
to deliver "personal" letters from Orban to 400,000 
first-time voters. Data Protection Ombudsman Attila 
Peterfalvi also warned the parties to respect the sanctity of 
personal data stored by local government offices. 
 
-- Scuffles:  There were some reports of scuffles involving 
campaign workers collecting nomination slips.  (Note:  Each 
voter may submit one nomination slip in support of entering a 
candidate on the local ballot.  Any citizen found to submit 
more than one such slip thereby invalidates all of them. 
Centrum Party chair Mihaly Kupa has accused both major 
parties of shutting out smaller ones by their allegedly 
aggressive tactics.)  One incident that drew comment from 
Parliament Speaker Katalin Szili (MSZP) and SZDSZ party 
president Gabor Kuncze involved an attack by a 45-year-old 
man on an elderly woman while either collecting FIDESZ 
nomination forms or distributing FIDESZ leaflets in Pecs. 
 
BUDAPEST 00000780  002 OF 003 
 
 
(The man later denied that he had assaulted the woman because 
of her political views.)  According to press reports, a 
Centrum Party candidate was assaulted in his home by 
burglars.  In Budapest's eleventh district, a 43-year-old 
security guard used a gas pistol to fire on an SZDSZ activist 
collecting nomination slips.  (The assailant stated that he 
was bothered by those collecting nomination forms.)  to some 
calls to abandon the practice of sending party activists door 
to door to collect nomination slips. 
 
-- Death Threats:  While there have also some death threats 
in the campaign, there have been no reported attempts to 
injure a candidate or prominent campaign figure.  In March, a 
17-year-old boy was apprehended after e-mailing a death 
threat to PM Gyurcsany; he was released after interrogation. 
Between rounds one and two, Interior Minister Monika Lamperth 
(MSZP) offered to provide a security detail to MDF party 
president Ibolya David after the latter received "several" 
death threats.  FIDESZ spokesman Peter Szijjarto has claimed 
that he received an obscene death threat in letter form. 
 
-- Petty Vandalism:  On March 15, the MSZP office in Vasvar 
was broken into, with some 500 nomination slips removed and 
some posters stolen.  In Budapest's twelfth district, the 
FIDESZ office reported that a vandal had smeared red paint on 
the outside of the office, as well as on a nearby memorial. 
Also in March, a man armed with a hunting knife, professing 
right-wing views and encouragement from his father, broke 
into a Nyugatszenterzsebet property under construction and 
belonging to Pecs's Socialist mayor Laszlo Toller; Toller 
declined to press charges.  In April, police caught the 
nephew of FIDESZ's Budapest faction head and the son of the 
tax office director defacing MSZP posters. 
 
-- Pressure Tactics, Blackmail:  MDF has been particularly 
sharp in its accusations of FIDESZ's attempts to pressure the 
smaller party's candidates out of the race.  In March, FIDESZ 
party president Viktor Orban promptly withdrew party support 
for candidate Zoltan Bago after the Bago's MDF rival 
publicized an incriminating tape recording.  In that 
recording, the FIDESZ candidate threatened his MDF opponent 
with untoward career consequences if the latter did not 
withdraw from the race.  MDF caucus leader Karoly Herenyi 
charged that Bago was carrrying out his party's instructions, 
which FIDESZ spokesperson Peter Szijjarto denied.  (Note: 
Hungary's two-round election system encourages horse-trading 
between the parties for one candidate to throw support to 
another.) 
 
------------------------------- 
Media Access: Ample and Diverse 
------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Both before and after the first round, all political 
parties enjoyed free access to the media to express their 
views and to address their prospective voters.  Even the 
statistically insignificant, very small far-right alliance of 
MIEP and Jobbik were covered by both the print and electronic 
media.  Individual media outlets gave more (sometimes 
exclusive) opportunities to the parties and politicians they 
sympathized with, but on the whole, between the pro-coalition 
and opposition-friendly outlets, all parties were provided 
ample opportunity to take their message to the public.  There 
is no evidence to support the mainly far-right opposition 
complaints that the media was controlled by 
"leftist-liberals" or that parties were deprived of the 
chance to air their views. 
 
¶4. (U) For the moment, it is too early to predict how savage 
the campaign might become in the critical ten days remaining 
before the next round of the elections.  Based on our 
first-round observations, however, we have every reason to 
believe that freedom of the press will continue to be 
respected, and that all involved in the campaign will 
continue to have a fair chance to influence prospective 
voters with their unrestrained and uncensored appearances in 
the print and electronic media. 
 
------------ 
A Clean Vote 
------------ 
 
¶5. (U) Wearing observer badges issued by the National 
Election Commission, eight teams of Embassy personnel visited 
more than one hundred polling stations in all regions of 
Hungary on April 9.  No polling station reporting long lines 
or wait times.  All observers reported that election 
officials were "friendly and forthcoming."  Most polling 
stations were staffed with six to twelve paid election 
 
BUDAPEST 00000780  003 OF 003 
 
 
officials and volunteer workers.  Volunteers were from the 
four parliamentary parties, and appeared to work well 
together. 
 
¶6. (U) Despite charges that some polling stations might see 
attempts to buy votes or manipulate the balloting, there have 
been no such reports.  One alienated MSZP local politician 
also claimed that the party plans to revive a practice 
allegedly employed in the 2002 elections, in which colluding 
voters would bring their blank ballots outside the voting 
center to a waiting party activist, who would then pay them 
for their cooperation, complete the ballot and send it inside 
with the next participant in the scheme.  That voter would 
collect a blank ballot, submit the completed one, and spirit 
the blank one outside to the party activist, and so on in a 
chain.  In April, the National Election Commission issued a 
statement condemning the practice.  Before the first round, 
Roma Affairs State Secretary Laszlo Teleki had told Poloffs 
that he fully expected there to be incidents of buying Roma 
votes in the April elections. 
 
¶7. (U) In this year's contest, absentee balloting was made 
possible at Hungarian embassies abroad, bringing in some 
8,100 votes.  FIDESZ was the only party that sent observers 
to foreign missions to observe the vote; no irregularities 
were reported.  Under an Interior Ministry decree, voters who 
will not be in their home district for round two of the 
elections may arrange to vote in another district instead. 
FIDESZ's Hajdu-Bihar county chair has alleged that MSZP plans 
to bus large numbers of supporters from Budapest to 
Debrecen's fourth district to support the party's local 
candidate.  (Note:  According to press reports from one day 
before the registration deadline, a total of 417 Budapest 
voters had arranged to vote in Debrecen.)  (Comment:  That 
charge appears overblown, given the chairman's claim that 
MSZP would be sending 60 busfuls of supporters to Debrecen.) 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8. (U) While the campaign was energetic, and there were some 
substantiated reports of concern, such as the alleged server 
hacking and attempted blackmail, none had any serious impact 
on the final outcome.  Where appropriate, police opened 
investigations, and there is no indication that they pursued 
them or publicized them to partisan advantage. 
Campaign-finance limits are unrealistically low, and at least 
three of the four parliamentary parties exceeded allowable 
levels.  Yet most importantly, all parties had ample 
opportunity to air their views before the electorate, and the 
electorate has been unimpeded in expressing its preference. 
We can commend Hungary's election commission for a 
professional job. 
 
¶9. (U) Visit U.S. Embassy Budapest's classified website: 
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/budapest/index.cfm 
 
WALKER