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Date Printed: 11/03/2008 JTS Box Number: IFES 5 Tab Number: 18 Document Title: Central European Electoral Systems Symposium Report, Budapest, Hungary; July Document Date: 1991 Document Country: Hungary IFES ID: R01656 ••::_.':.&:" I ....~ .Y International Foundation for Electoral Systems ~ 1620 I STREET. NW • SUITE 611 • WASHINGTON. DC 20006' 12021828-8507' FAX 12021 452-0804 I I I I I I I I I I I I I DO NOT REMOVE FROM I IFES RESOURCE CENTER! I 80ARDOF F. Clifton White Patricia Hurar James M. Cannon Randal C Teague DIRECTORS Chairman Secretary Counsel I Richard M. Scammon Charles Manatt John C. White Richard W. Soudriene I Vice Chairman Treasurer Robert C. Walker Director I I I TABLE OF CONTENTS I I Statement by Mr. Clifton White, Chairman of IRES I II Elections in Hungary and Slovakia The National Election Committee of Hungary, by Paul Kara,' I Secretary, National Election Committee; I The Experience of Elections in the Slovak Republic, by Peter' I Bercik, Secretary of the Slovak Election Commission. III Building a Grass Roots Civic Association Bulgarian Association of Fair Elections and Civil Rights, by I Miroslav Sevlievski, secretary General; Citizen Education Its Importance in Latin America and I Central Europe, by Monica Jiminez de Barros, Executive Director, PARTICIPA. I IV Electoral and Representative Systems of Nominating and Voting Controversies of Polish Electoral Law, by Senator Jerzy. I Stepien, Chairman of Local Elections' Bureau; Commentary on Proportional Representation by Means of the , Transferable Vote, by Louise McDonough, Chairman, Association I of Parliamentary Returning Officers. V Political Parties I The Role of Political Parties, by Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, Senior Lecturer in Government, BruneI University; I The Role of Political Parties Prospect for Partisan Democratic strengthening in Latin America, by Gabriel Murillo Castana, Chairman, Department of Political Science, University I of the Andes. VI Election Day Activities I Election Day Activities in Canada, by Jean-Pierre Kingsley, Chief Electoral Officer; I Election Day Activities in Hungary, by Dr. Zoltan Toth, Head of National Election Office. I I I I I VII Regional Election Organizations I Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, by Ambassador Luchino Cortese, Office for Free Elections; Perspectives on Regional Integration, The Central American I Experience, by Mariano Fiallos, President of the Supreme Electoral Council; I Perspectives of Regional Integration of Election Administrators - the UK Experience, by Charles Lasham, Chairman, Association I of Electoral Administrators. I APPENDIX Results of Hungarian Plebiscites and Elections I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Remarks by I Mr. Clifton White I There are no firm blue prints for how to make democracy and an election system function and work. It depends upon the culture, the history, the I background, and the economic condition of the community that you are trying to I establish an electoral system for. Therefore, the purpose of IFES is to provide symposiums of this type and to work on those basic matters that are essential I to an election system. It is a brief period of time to try to put together an electoral system when you consider that at least for the last couple thousands I of years people have been trying to do so, and to this day have not gotten it I right. I am not sure we will, but we are trying. I would like to touch on two things. First, one area that is a relevant I factor to the election administration process is the question of polling surveys. it is relevant to those people who plan to be election administrators because I it does become part of the election process. It becomes part of the election I process in two ways. First of all, tremendous pressure is put upon you for the rapid announcement of winners. There is tremendous pressure where everybody I would like to know who is going to win. When polls are used preelection, then the big question is who is right and who is wrong. Did the official vote come I out right or were all those great pollsters not so scientific? Unfortunately I for the pollsters, I have lived long enough to remember when they were wrong. The pressure comes on you as election administrators. you must take into I consideration the release of polling data when developing your programs and rules. I Directly related to this is what has been referred to as exit polls. The I exit polls again are a relatively new phenomena but certainly in the United States they are becoming a very popular device~ What they do is merely ask the I I I people as they leave the polling place who they voted for. Then, on the basis I of this magic formula that these people keep telling us they have, they develop I a proper sample, make the projection, and tell us who won that election before the polls are closed. I think exit polling is a very difficult part of the I election process. I would urge you if possible not to get into it. However, you probably cannot avoid it. It is dangerous because that again, increases the I tremendous pressure upon the official election machinery to give results in those I instances where the official results disagree with the exit polling. It can therefore become a political challenge to the integrity of the official election I system itself. Exit polling is an area I worry about. I would not feel the symposium would be complete unless I mentioned it to you as an area of concern, I and one that you should keep your eyes on as you develop your own election procedures down the road. I The second area which has not been discussed is the question of political I consultants. Political consultants have become a rather overwhelming phenomena in The United States of America, and they are now trying to become an I overwhelming phenomena in the world. Why are they a concern for those of us who deal with the election process? They are a concern primarily because of the I relationship they have with the development and the responsibility of political I parties. In my opinion the development of political consultants along with television has done as much to weaken political parties in The united states of I America, as any other factor I can think of. In reducing the responsibility and strength of the political parties, you reduce the institutional responsibility I for politics. I In The United states of America today, it is possible for an individual to get elected to the Congress, the Senate, the governor's chair, and possibly I become President; by going out, getting a pot full of money, and hiring a big I I I name consultant. The big name consultant (big name meaning a man who has gotten I his publicity in the paper) then gets that man elected to the legislature or to I the governor's chair. At that point that individual who is elected is responsible to no one, not even his political consultant who is only a hired gun. I You can hire him back, you can fire him, or you can hire another one. In terms of the continuing responsibility which I think is critical for I the whole governmental and political process; I think the question of political I consultants is again something you should keep your eye on. I say this with considerable amount of authority because I was the founding President of the I American Association of Political Consultants, I served as President of the International Association of Political Consultants, and I think I was the first I person they ever put into the Political Consultant hall of Fame. Therefore, I know a great deal about the Political consultants; and I view it as a serious I problem, literally in terms of the development of the political parties and the I responsibility of those parties. Having made these two points, I would like to conclude with the following: I Democracy is a dynamic. It always grows. It essentially deals with the human condition and the human condition is unpredictable, chargeable, always changing, I and always looking to improve itself. If we are trying to improve ourselves and I if democracy is predicated upon the concept of self-government, then we have to recognize that what we are trying to do is something that we should always try I to make perfect but never will. Therefore, we look at it in the manner for seeing how it serves the constituency for which we are trying to design it. Do I not try to design the perfect model. Design the one that fits, and if it fits I it means it works, and if it works it means it is good. If it works in providing people with self-government, with freedom, with secret ballot, with the I opportunity to choose the people who are going to make the rules under which they I I I are going to live; then it is good and you have aChieved your objective. Do not I look for that achievement to come from a perfect model anywhere. It does not I exist. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I THE NATIONAL ELECTION COMMITTEE OF HUNGARY I By I Paul bra Deputy state Secretary I Ministry of Interior I and Secretary, Hungarian National Election Committee I In Hungary the electoral organizations are sovereign bodies of the I citizency, subordinated only to the law. Their primary tasks are guaranteeing the purity of the elections, the oversight of their legality, and -- if necessary I -- re-establishing" the legal bases of conducting elections.