About 137,000 non-Hungarian European Union citizens residing in Hungary, and 35,000 recognized as refugees or with long-term residence rights, can vote in the June 9 local government election, and they do not even need to register, reports MTI. In the European Parliament (EP) election, EU citizens living in Hungary can decide to vote for the Hungarian EP lists instead of their home country, for which they have to register themselves, 3,600 of them have done so so far.
However, in local government elections, EU citizens with a residential address in Hungary are automatically entitled to both active and passive voting rights: they can participate in the voting and run as a candidate. Unlike the EP election, they do not need to be registered in order to exercise their right to vote.
EU citizens with a Hungarian address can only participate in the elections of local government representatives and mayors on June 9, but not in the election of national government representatives.
In the election of municipal representatives and mayors, those who are recognized as refugees or have the right to long-term residence are entitled to vote, but they cannot be candidates.
Thus, in addition to the 7.69 million Hungarian citizens with Hungarian addresses, more than 35,000 foreigners recognized as refugees or with long-term residence permits, as well as citizens of other European Union member states with Hungarian addresses, can vote in the municipal elections, there are 137,000 of them.
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