Background

Since 2010 Hungary has been ruled by an authoritarian  government led by Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance – a right wing populist and national-conservative political party, with  Viktor Orbán as prime minister. 

In previous races some parties and candidates regularly used  means that undermined the fairness of elections, with unethical,  often illegal, and fraudulent electoral practices. For example,  some voters were required to vote for a particular party as a  condition for getting or keeping a job or public work, receiving  cash or food parcels, or patients of nursing homes were “guided”  by nurses in the voting process. These practices affected  primarily those with low income. 

The Civil College Foundation has contributed to general voter  mobilization in previous years, focusing on democratic and fair  elections, preventing or exposing electoral malpractices, as well  as raising the issues and interests of different communities and  disadvantaged social groups to the public and to the candidates  running for positions. 

From these experiences, they have observed that the free will of  voters is often violated. 

In preparation of the April 3rd 2022 elections in Hungary, Civil  College Foundation (Civil Kollégium Alapítvány – CKA), decided  to form a coalition and coordinate a campaign titled “Clear Vote  Campaign.” The goal of the campaign was to organize voters to  prevent and avoid electoral malpractices in Hungary. 

Process:

Between May 2021 and November 2022, Civil College  Foundation, organized a series of strategic actions to engage  citizens, activists, communities organizations to prevent and  avoid electoral malpractice. They organized open trainings  and workshops between local groups, activists, active citizens,  including forums in Roma communities, as well as closed  meetings with leaders from civil society organizations. The also  brought together 11 forums and debates to raise awareness and  mobilize local communities and citizens in the campaign and to  make a concrete street presence felt on election day to ensure  that the elections were free and fair. After these public events  they did interviews with participants, looking for local residents  with whom they could collaborate on the campaign. 

As the campaign progressed, CKA formed a coalition with a  number of prominent pro-democracy organizations in order to  oppose voter fraud during elections and raise this problem to  the public. The coalition developed the objectives, campaign  strategy, a framework for communication during the campaign,  and a system for contributions of human and financial resources  from each member to the campaign. They agreed on means of  internal communication and coordination for the coalition, a  framework for decision-making and the way in which we would  liaise with external actors working on the issue and political  actors.

Outcomes: 

• More than 300 people participated in online trainings  between November 2021 and March 2022. 
• Political party members participated in some of the open  trainings as they were publicly advertised, but the coalition  did not work directly with political parties. 
• 300 activists volunteered to monitor election fraud  activity on the streets and  
• 22 000 citizens were mobilized in polling stations. 
• The main national media outlets and news portals (ATV  and RTL Klub) reported on the campaign. 
• Several cases of electoral malpractice and fraud  were documented and reported to the police including  transporting of voters, illegal voter influence through gifts,  buying of votes, harassment of activists. 
• Most reported cases of electoral malpractice and fraud  were not acted on in time by the police, or they were  rejected by Election Commission, despite the fact that  evidence was collected, in some cases, through photo or  video documentation. 

Lessons:

•  This campaign exposed the fact that in Hungary electoral malpractices and fraud developed overtime  and became deeply rooted in social relations, power  system, and social norms. It was observed that electoral  malpractices were not consciously perceived as “fraud”  by many Hungarian citizens, even if they occurred in their  immediate environment, therefore the mainstream social  norms prevented citizens from seeing it as illegal behavior.  Fraud was perpetrated primarily outside the polling station  and before election day and they were particularly difficult  to expose as they are not done in public spaces. Those who  could report them often fear the possible consequences  of reporting as they are in dependency relationships with  the perpetrators. In addition, the legal framework and  procedures in Hungary do not allow for effective action  against electoral malpractice and fraud.  
•  Therefore, the issue could not be eradicated by focusing  solely on election day and only on what happens publicly,  but it requires a long-term process of educating citizens and  challenging existing unjust power structures, social norms,  and legal frameworks. 
•  It takes a decade or more to change crises that have  developed and deepened overtime, like the crisis of  democracy. Changing people’s perceptions on issues can  take years and it requires investing in long-term processes  of civic education of citizens. 
•  Extending the time horizon means developing a long term agenda for systemic change and investing in long-term  organizing processes. 
• We need to be ready to stay committed to organizing  for change in the long term, and patient in the face of  challenges, failures, and slow pace of change processes. 
• Systemic change also requires building new political  powers that many people trust and that supports our  agenda. 

Source:

ECON (2023). Organizing in Crisis: A curriculum for community organizers. CC-BY NC-SA 4.0.