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Increasingly popular libertarians were excluded from the pre-election in Hungary

The libertarian "Cut the 75% of Taxes Party" (LA75) is not allowed to participate in the pre-election - under the newly adopted rules

BUDAPEST, MAGYARORSZáG, July 15, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The libertarian "Cut the 75% of Taxes Party" (LA75) is not allowed to participate in the pre-election - under the newly adopted rules. In former public opinion research, the party may get more votes (45%) than the government (lead by Viktor Orbán) and opposition after the party announced that makes resignable the taxes on labor which combined with VAT are nearly 5 times bigger than the monthly savings of an average worker in Hungary. However, according to the new rules of the pre-election set by the opposition parties, those party's Prime Minister candidate who was not accepted by the fractions of "pre-election organizers" cannot run as a candidate in the pre-election. Áron Ecsenyi, 31 years old chairman of LA75 called this "undiluted anti-democratic step" which is "unprecedented in the European History".

In the last decade, the left-wing opposition parties lobbied a lot so that the new parties could not run in the general elections hoping that it will attract more voters for them. In 2020 the government adopted an amendment proposal to the election law, which will further increase the number of individual candidates required for the national list. It states that there should be at least 71 candidates in a minimum of 14 counties for parties to field a national list in a general election. This is two-thirds of the individual electoral districts and two-thirds of the counties in the country, so it would make it even harder for smaller or new parties (such as LA75) to field a national list. These parties have no any government subsidies, so it makes almost impossible for them to field a national list.

The new election law was reasonable in the current situation for parliamentary fractions; it is not in the interest of either the government or the opposition to allow the ascension of a third force - especially if it has a right-wing libertarian view with a popular tax cut program. The government does not want big changes in the redistribution which is one the highest in OECD, and opposition even wants to increase the taxes. Since libertarians are against taxation, clearly the government and opposition are not eager to make friends with them.

So far it seemed that there is a loophole for the new parties. This was the pre-election, where it would only take 20,000 signatures for someone to run as Prime Minister candidate. Moreover, the winner takes it all; the beaten candidates cannot run in the 2022 general election. That is why it could have been a great opportunity for Áron Ecsenyi, who was also the main organizer of anti-lockdown events in Hungary in this year February. Since his tax cut reform is very popular, according to some political analyzes he could beat the left-wing candidates of opposition parties. However, as it turned out, not everyone can take part in the pre-election. The newly adopted rules only allow it for 6 candidates who were involved somehow in the organizing of pre-election, and Áron Ecsenyi is not among them. According to Áron Ecsenyi "it is inconsistent from those parties who think that democracy is in danger in Hungary, while their rules are totally against of the democratic challenges".

Kristóf Sárosi
Cal Poly Pomona
+36 306275596
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