June 8th, 2009

Election commission cries foul over “robot” phone calls

The National Election Commission (OVB) on Sunday declared illegal the automated telephone calls that encouraged people to vote for a particular party on Sunday. Such campaigning is considered a violation of the campaign silence rule.

OVB will decide at a later date whether to file a report with the police or ask telephone companies to update themselves on regulations related to such calls.

Fidesz and Jobbik alleged that the Socialists were behind such calls, while the Socialists blamed Fidesz.

Topics
Share
Comments
The All Hungary Media Group is firmly committed to freedom of expression and therefore applies a mostly "hands off" approach to comment moderation. Comments left by readers represent their own views and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of the staff, editors or owner of the All Hungary Media Group, who nonetheless reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic or which moderators consider to constitute "hate speech." Also note that in order to prevent spam we generally close entries off to comments several days after publication.

6 Comments

  1. John Simpson says:

    Who cares, the campaign silence is so ridiculous anyway, as if receiving a phone call or seeing a poster 48 hours before voting would change anybodies opinion! Most Hungarians did not bother to vote anyway!

  2. Erik says:

    @John Simpson: Actually, you are understating the idiocy of the whole campaign silence concept, because it is in the last 48 hours that people DO make up their mind, and thus should have ready access to every and all sort of info, including party propaganda. It’s like preventing people from seeing car commercials and other info in the last days before they buy a car. Duh!

  3. Viking says:

    First time in History John Simpson and I can agree on anything…
    As comparison Sweden allows the Parties to give out ballots outside the Voting Station, in a last ditch attempt to try to influence the voters. Not aggressive, not to disturb others, just last chance. And of course you are allowed to fix free rides etc to the Voting Stations.

  4. Godot says:

    In the US, Election Day means a free ride to the voting place for the homeless, plus a carton of cigarettes for voting Democrat. It’s always nice to see the democratic process in action.

  5. Viking says:

    Godot,
    Given the fact that you have to register to vote in the US before, it is very interesting that the homeless people can handle that part of the process also. You do not need to give an address when registering?

  6. Godot says:

    This is not Hungary, Viking, you don’t need to prove where you live, and the address on record can be anything, real or imagined.
    Homeless shelters have addresses too, and they seem to be an excellent source of voters.