The Party of Hungarian Community (SMK) plans to propose changes to the Act on Civil Procedure and the Act on Franchise Conditions to accommodate bilingual election information and intends to collect the necessary 500 signatures to initiate such amendments. It announced on July 25 that if it succeeds in its endeavour, the Interior Ministry will have to consider the proposals.
The SMK has specific proposals, such as having all information concerning elections posted bilingually in ethnically-mixed areas. SMK chairman József Berényi said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. He said that a bilingual approach could ensure higher voter turn-out and represent another step that the state could make towards ensuring equal rights for ethnic minorities.
The SMK initiative is also supported by the non-parliamentary party Civic Conservative Party (OKS). The public are being asked to lend their support in a signature drive lasting until August 2, the SITA newswire wrote.
Sources: TASR, SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
