Police investigated dozens of forged signature cases, but only a few have resulted in indictments

Before the Hungarian parliamentary elections on 3 April, there were a number of stories circulating in the press and on social media in which voters complained that their personal data had been used without their knowledge in the process of the collection of recommendations. The Hungarian National Police Headquarters (ORFK) told Átlátszó at the end of December how many cases of the suspected use of forged private documents had been prosecuted, and how many proceedings had been terminated or suspended. The figures show that more than a third of the cases have been suspended because of an unknown offender and one in ten investigations have been closed.

In February, the collection of recommendations for the April parliamentary elections took place in all 106 constituencies of Hungary. At least 500 valid signatures from voters living in the constituency were required.

However, as we reported in March, it is likely that not all candidates managed to obtain the recommendations correctly, as some found that their personal details have been used on the recommendation forms without their knowledge.

Police investigating dozens of forged signatures ahead of Hungarian parliamentary election

In February, the collection of recommendations for the April parliamentary elections took place in 106 constituencies of Hungary. At least 500 valid signatures from voters living in the constituency were required. However, according to our information, not everyone managed to get them in the correct way.

At the end of July, we looked at the number of cases of fake recommendations before the April parliamentary elections. At the time, the police wrote in response to Atlatszo’s inquiry that due to the suspicion of the criminal offence of using a forged private document, 68 criminal proceedings were initiated.

In mid-December, we again contacted the National Police Headquarters (ORFK) to find out the current status of these criminal proceedings. The police informed us that eight of the 68 proceedings were conducted after reclassification on suspicion of other offences. Of these, seven are currently under investigation and one case has been closed with a recommendation for indictment.

Out of the 60 prosecutions, 7 cases have been sent to the prosecutor’s office with a recommendation for indictment and 29 are still open.

A third of the proceedings (18) were suspended due to an unknown offender and 6 investigations were closed, meaning that half of the cases were unsuccessful.

Police investigating 68 cases of election fraud with forged signatures

During the parliamentary elections on 3 April, there were a number of stories circulating in the press and on social media in which voters complained that their personal data had been used without their knowledge in the collection of recommendations.

György Gődény, the leader of Normal Life Party, and the poster of the Megoldás Movement. Source: Facebook

Most of the fake recommendations were in favour of Gődény’s party

The police have received 64 reports of suspected offences against the electoral order, and there were 5 cases of suspected misuse of personal data. In the summer, we also sent enquiries to all 106 local election offices to find out how many cases had been referred to the police and which parties’ recommendations had caused problems.

In the end, we received a response from 71 places.

Local election offices reported a total of 44 cases of suspicious signatures.

The candidates of the Normal Life Party (Normális Élet Pártja) were the most frequently affected. The party is connected to György Gődény, who became known for his virus-sceptical posts in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. His name has already surfaced in the 2018 elections, when he was the list leader of the Közös Nevező 2018 party, which many consider to be a fake party were the most frequently affected, followed by the candidates of the Megoldás Movement (Megoldás Mozgalom), led by the porn tycoon György Gattyán.

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False recommendations could be made in several ways: in some cases, by forging signatures, after unauthorised use of personal data. As a result, people who had certainly not signed for the candidate (or had not submitted a recommendation to anyone) found themselves among the recommenders. There were also cases of deceased people’s details on the forms.

The collection of false signatures is a favourite tool of fake parties, which they use to raise millions in public funding – without any real political performance. Parties can obtain public funds in two ways. Each individual candidate is entitled to a grant of HUF 1.18 million, while parties that manage to have enough individual candidates, qualifies as a national party and can receive additional funds. The 2011 amendment to the Electoral Act made it much simpler to nominate candidates, as now only 500 valid signatures are needed, and a voter can support multiple candidates. The Campaign Finance Law was tightened in 2017, and the amendment now requires parties that do not achieve 1% in the election to pay back state funding, but past examples show that this is not always possible.

Four years ago, there were more problems, and fewer investigations were successful

The problem of forged signatures could be noticed during the previous elections. In 2018, several of our readers contacted us alleging that fake parties had misused their data when collecting signatures in elections. After the election, we reported that 111 criminal prosecutions had been launched nationwide for forged signatures, and local election offices reported 280 cases of falsification of recommendations when we contacted them.

In November 2018, we also reported that police investigations into dozens of cases of abuse were almost fruitless. Of the 111 cases, six months after the elections, six were terminated, 19 were suspended, nine were reclassified and 11 were handed over to the NTCA (NAV). Only one case was prosecuted, according to the police.

Written and translated by Zita Szopkó. The original, Hungarian version of this article can be found here.