The stakes in Sunday’s elections in Miskolc have been excessive: for the reason that alliance didn’t come collectively, the Fidesz candidate ran towards a number of opponents. The vote counters who declared themselves Clear didn’t report any fraud or irregularities. Nonetheless, there have been some unusual issues that we skilled after we have been there: in a single polling station, a minibus turned suspiciously many occasions, and in Arnót, close to Miskolc, a group of two mayoral candidates supervised the road inhabited primarily by Roma. Election report on Miskolc and its environment.
Lujza Sikoparija, aHang Borsod county coordinator, advised Átlátszó: after the frustration after the merger, probably the most candidates of all time ran for the mayor’s title in Miskolc, a complete of seven utilized for the mayor’s title. The earlier alliance additionally cut up into two professional camps after the reigning mayor, Pál Veres, introduced that he is not going to run once more for the title of mayorthough 5 years in the past he managed to beat the then Fidesz candidate by a major margin.
The county coordinator of aHang Borsod mentioned: they discovered that a lot of the candidates have been very cautious to speak with their very own supporters on the occasions of their very own marketing campaign, they usually centered rather more on slandering their opponents than on presenting their very own program.
Lujza Sikoparija, aHang Borsod county coordinator.
The end result confirmed those that feared that the votes could be scattered because of the lack of unity: József Tóth-Szántai, the Fidesz candidate, obtained 40.22 p.c. second-placed László Barkai, candidate of the DK-MSZP-Párbeszéd-LMP, 22.18 p.c. The others are considerably behind.
Farhaat, 5 thousand
As he says: he didn’t obtain any studies of election fraud this 12 months, however he has expertise from earlier years. Within the villages and small settlements round Miskolc – the place folks typically dwell in a worse monetary scenario – it was typical to distribute meat, akin to pork loin, however in bigger settlements “the stakes have been increased”, they tried to persuade folks with potatoes and even money. These distributions aren’t primarily typical of election day, however they attempt to mobilize earlier than it. He has personally heard such tales, the place households obtained 5 thousand for twins who have been correctly retracted.
“When it’s different training referendum organized within the county, we additionally had the chance to speak to voters affected by poverty… On the first assembly, they instantly requested in the event that they have been distributing right here, and in that case, how a lot, whether or not there was cash or meals. It was seen that they have been asking these questions fairly merely on the idea of customary legislation, with none dangerous intentions. Many individuals have expressed that they really feel that they don’t have any actual say in these issues, then at the very least somebody allocates that little cash to them as soon as each 4 or 5 years.”
This 12 months, nevertheless, such information didn’t attain him on the time of our dialog, he says that there might be a number of causes for this: it could be {that a} actually constructive development is being noticed and that there’s merely much less fraud, or that issues are simply being finished extra skillfully and the folks concerned is probably not reporting it. .
The voters got here with eight
We managed to speak to a number of vote counters in Miskolc. It was confirmed with out exception, which was additionally noticed all through the nation: lots of people went to vote, sometimes the biggest crowd was within the morning and early afternoon hours.
Nonetheless, the voting went properly, they may not report any atrocities, they mentioned that as a result of it is a regular neighborhood, comparable issues don’t normally occur of their district. One in all them mentioned: probably the most important occasion was {that a} consultant introduced refreshments to the vote counters who belonged to his personal delegating group.
Election posters in Miskolc.
On the identical time, there have been suspicious indicators within the polling station positioned not removed from the principle sq. in Újgyőr: round one o’clock within the afternoon, a minibus and a automobile arrived on the identical time, and a dozen folks bought out. The automobile waited for the voters, who, upon getting back from the polls, had a protracted dialog with the driving force – who was spectacularly taking a look at our automobile whereas we have been ready – then bought in and drove away.
Though they arrived collectively, the van left empty – about 8 individuals who had left the polls left on foot after a brief stand, whereas a person a avenue away pointed them within the course of a surrounding avenue. One other minibus additionally rotated twice throughout our keep, eight folks bought off every time.
Taking a bus could be an election crime in itself: in accordance with the election legislation, it’s forbidden to move voters to the polling stations in autos with 9 folks or extra, and the group of transport and a number of turns are additionally towards the legislation. Within the final election, the 2022 parliamentary election, primarily based on expertise, the “election taxi drivers” paid consideration to the previous, they sometimes transported solely 4-5 folks at a time, however observers from a number of locations reported {that a} automobile turned a number of occasions.
The candidates’ assistants guard one another in Arnót
In Arnót, positioned lower than 10 kilometers from Miskolc, all the things was effective within the polling station, in accordance with a vote counter’s report. Nonetheless, he additionally added that he had heard of just one oddity, that too exterior the polling station. Within the neighborhood of the cemetery, a gaggle belonging to 2 mayoral candidates additionally guards the entrance of the road primarily inhabited by Roma – it isn’t identified if they’re checking one another to ensure that there isn’t any election fraud, or in the event that they need to control everybody else.
After we have been there, we truly noticed two vehicles parked on reverse sides of the parking zone, a number of folks have been standing subsequent to them, apparently they have been settling in for an extended time. Some have been sitting on the blanket unfold within the trunk whereas calmly smoking their cigarettes, others have been standing subsequent to one another and speaking.
Though we did not cease, the truth that we handed by them did not go unnoticed – not lengthy after, a telephone name got here from the vote counter: a member of the group advised him that he noticed that “he despatched younger folks to look at them”.
At half previous eight, there was no information of the election “observers”. Photograph: Clear/Bence Bodoky.
Round eight-thirty, half an hour after the voting closed, we went there once more, then there was no information or ashes from the volunteer “observers”.
Three mayoral candidates competed in Arnóton this 12 months, the beforehand reigning mayor didn’t run once more. All three ran as independents: László Tószegi, István Oláh and Ágnes Gulyás competed for the title of mayor.
The vote counter, who drew our consideration to the bizarre case, mentioned that he knew that solely two candidates’ groups have been maintaining a tally of the ominous space, however he didn’t reveal which two candidates they have been, he solely mentioned that one candidate alone begins, “he does not have folks,” so he thinks which may be the rationale why he did not ship a group to the issue website.
Zita Szopkó – images: Bence Bodoky
Cowl photograph: Miskolc signal on the border of the settlement.