Local Council Members

Hi Mark. now this my be of some help, first I am crap and spelling at Hungaryn but able to follow events, so all though I live part time in B/Pest but from mid March till end October in Lovasberéy 8093 Fejér county in the village at the time I arived ther in 2009 the local Polgemaster was a fantastic Man I was able to take problems to him to resolve  there was a Hate campain agaste him started He was voted out in 2012?  I do belive is avable is the Online Council Meetings if you wear to gain access it my Help, the bottom line was polticts He was involved in mineral querring but he had Tyes to this work was a partnship with others soome of witch where top members of the goverment and sitting next to the PM   PS your in Pécs I have frends there

The simple answer is "No", there is no option for recall of individual city council members in Hungary.

But the city council can vote to dissolve itself, and thus call new elections for all members, including the mayor, hoping that these individuals are not voted in again. But of course you risk getting the opposite event -- the opposition members get "their guy" into power.

My wife, who was mayor of our village, had a few questions that should be answered to help with this issue.

First, how large is your village? That is, are there three or five members of the council?

Second, the mayor has a number of legal options, including reporting to the overseeing governmental bodies or civil suits that these members in opposition go "beyond" their what is considered "normal" political opposition. Has your mayor tried this?

Third, the mayor can ask for citizen petitions and put before the city council to show that that the population does not agree with these members. Do this enough times and they should resign. Has this been tried? (But that is just tradition -- they do not have to give up their mandate as council members even if everyone in the village hates them, so this may be a useless effort until the next election).

But in short, the local government "clerk/notary" should tell you all these options, not just to you, but also to the mayor (unless the local "clerk/notary" is bias for the "opposition" or incompetent, which are options you should not assume to be unreasonable).

Do we ex-pats, non Hungarian citizens even have a say in politics in Hungary?
I didn't think we did , even residents can not vote .
No matter, only voted for a US president 2 times and one was Ross Perot and the other's name is long forgotten a liberal 3rd party member who was indited and put in jail for tax evasion or some other trumpt  up crime.
Needless to say, I no long vote.
The only time we even thought about trying to us political advantage was a few years back when my HU resident permit was going badly with immigration services in Budapest.
My husband's old school mate was the ex health minister of Hungary and he was considering contacting him as a go between. ( He later ran for PM of HUngary but lost)
Never bothered, that would of been our last card before hiring a lawyer.
Worked out by itself.
They just had a 60 year class reunion in Hungary but my husband had to miss it since we are in Vegas right now.
Would of been cool to see the old minister, he was one of only 9 or so that made it to the class reunion, funny to see photos of him acting like another regular old guy drinking beer with his old buddies. ( was a guys only party)
Hope they have another reunion before there is no one left from the class.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Do we ex-pats, non Hungarian citizens even have a say in politics in Hungary?
I didn't think we did , even residents can not vote .

Resident EU citizens can vote for Members of the European Parliament and also in municipal elections but not national parliamentary elections.

Just to make it more interesting, UK and Irish citizens can vote in national elections of either country with minor one way exclusions (e.g. UK citizens cannot vote for the Irish presidency). Irish citizens can vote in all UK elections without exception.   Commonwealth citizens (who are entitled to live in the UK) can also vote in all UK elections but EU citizens cannot vote in UK national elections.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Do we ex-pats, non Hungarian citizens even have a say in politics in Hungary?
I didn't think we did , even residents can not vote .

Voting is just one, tiny, part of being part of a politically process.

See: http://www.aeinstein.org/free-resources … s/english/

I do try to not eat tuna or buy products that are tested on animals, my days of sit in's are over however. We did happen by accident to be taking one of our regular city walks down Rakoczy during a protest. Just walked awhile with the crowd in solidarity.
Power to the people!

It is precisely stated in the Act of Parliament  governing municipalities on what basis can the council get rid of a member. It is the decision of the council, they have to watch the acts of the two.
If the mayor feels his private life was also  tainted  he can act under criminal law. There is a chance a local notar (jegyző) knows something of Hungarian law and may be able to help out. Good luck!