Hungarian Parliament extends state of danger until next May, special legal order to still be in place during April elections

On Tuesday morning, the ruling majority of the Hungarian Parliament extended the state of danger by another six months, until May 13, 2026. (For the difference on the state of emergency and the special legal order of a state of danger in Hungarian law, see our former article.) 127 representatives voted in favour of the proposal with 56 voting against it. This means that the state of danger will still be in place when next April's parliamentary elections take place and may remain in effect for another month thereafter.

The first time the Hungarian government declared a state of danger was more than five years ago, on 11 March, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic. This special legal order allows the government to suspend the application of certain laws by decree, to deviate from certain legal provisions, and to introduce other extraordinary measures.

The Orbán government has been making good use of this option in recent years. Parliament may prolong the state of danger for up to 180 days at a time, and – with the exception of a brief interruption – since 2020, every six months, the Hungarian government has been granted the authority to make important decisions without parliamentary approval.

A state of danger due to war in a neighbouring country has been in effect in Hungary since May 2022, and now, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén once again justified this latest extension of the special legal order by the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war and the resulting humanitarian crisis.

The government has in recent years also cited the state of danger due to war to pass several decrees which are difficult or almost impossible to connect to the war going on next door in Ukraine. Most recently, for example, this was invoked when issuing the decree authorizing Justice Minister Bence Tuzson to access the investigative and secret service materials relating to the Szőlő utca human trafficking case and permission to disclose details relating to it.

"Whether there is a danger of war and to what extent it is present is always adjusted to the government's current political interests,"

András Kristóf Kádár, co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee said to Telex, adding that keeping the state of danger in place has long been unjustified.

Although Zsolt Semjén has still argued in favor of extending the state of danger so that they can support people fleeing the war in Ukraine, the government has still not classified Transcarpathia as a war-torn area. As a result, families arriving from that region of Ukraine (bordering Hungary) are not eligible for state-provided housing, and last year several Transcarpathian families ended up homeless in Hungary as a result.

There have never been parliamentary elections in Hungary during a state of danger, but Minister of the Prime Minister's Office Gergely Gulyás has promised that this will have absolutely no effect on the way the elections are conducted next April. According to Gulyás, there is no connection between the state of danger and the elections, because “the municipal and the European Parliamentary elections also took place during a state of danger due to war.”

The co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee told Telex that, under the Fundamental Law, the government cannot postpone the date of the election, which is set by the president. However,

they can easily amend the electoral law and election-related rules by invoking the state of danger. For example, they can redraw electoral districts, change procedural rules, restrict freedom of assembly and expression, and in extreme cases may even restrict the right to vote,

but Kádár is not anticipating such drastic measures.

It should be however said that there were plenty of examples even in 2022 when the government used emergency decrees to assist Fidesz's election campaign – the co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee said, citing several examples. For example, a decree was issued to lift confidentiality rules on tax information so that the Prime Minister could send letters to voters with children who had received income tax refunds. Another memorable example was the banning of local referendums prior to the election on the grounds of the pandemic, while the government's national referendum on child protection was allowed to go ahead.

According to Kádár, there are only a few fundamental rights guaranteed in the Fundamental Law that the government is not allowed to restrict in a state of danger. These include the right to human dignity, the right to life, the prohibition of torture, the prohibition of degrading and inhumane treatment, and the right to a fair trial. However, the freedom of opinion, speech, and assembly, which are important in an election campaign, are not included.

What will happen to the extraordinary legal order if Fidesz does not win the election and there is a change of government? According to the law that has just been passed, the state of danger will last until May 13, and only a two-thirds majority in parliament can extend it. If no political force can secure a two-thirds majority in the new parliament, the state of emergency will end next May, and the emergency regulations will cease to be effective on May 14.

An intriguing question to ask is what a new government would do with the emergency powers that will remain in effect until mid-May, and whether it would use the opportunity to bypass parliament and fast-track a series of important decisions after taking office. However, it is not so certain that it would have the opportunity to do so. After the elections are held in April, the new Parliament must be formed within 30 days, and they will then elect the prime minister and the government. Whether it will be possible to form a new government by 13 May remains to be seen.

During the period of transition, the current government will continue to run the country as an executive government and the law also allows it to introduce emergency regulations.

In the event of an election defeat, the Orbán government may also decide to end the state of danger before the May 13 deadline and the formation of a new government, in which case the next government would need parliamentary support for every single decision.

A simple majority in parliament is sufficient for repealing the emergency decrees, but the co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee expects the current two-thirds Fidesz majority to pass all emergency decrees that are important for the government prior to the election, just as they have done from time to time in the past.