If the parliamentary majority repeals the multi-player health insurance law, then a referendum on the issue will become unnecessary, National Election Commission (OVB) chairman Péter Szigeti told Kossuth Rádió on Tuesday. Quoting rulings passed by the Constitutional Court last month, he said “if there is no law to challenge a referendum drive, then there is no room for a referendum initiative.”
However, constitutional lawyer István Lövétei told Magyar Hírlap that once a process aimed at launching a referendum gets underway, Parliament has to order a referendum regardless of whether MPs see any sense in it. A decision to the contrary may only be made if the collection and verification of signatures and the establishment of the results went unlawfully, he said.
Both the Hungarian Social Forum and the Liga union federation, who collected signatures for the referendum, objected to Szigeti’s statement.
The OVB has verified the signatures collected for a referendum on abolishing multi-player health insurance. That decision may be challenged until Thursday at the Supreme Court. If Parliament then passes a resolution on a referendum, it may still be challenged in the Constitutional Court. The most likely scenario is that the referendum could be held between August and November, Népszabadság observes.
