EU-citizens eligible to VOTE ON SUNDAY(12th) at local/Municipal level

fireroller wrote:

....
You can vote for persons at 3 levels: local constituency - district - whole Budapest
* a representative in your small constituency (only a few streets) sending the winner into the district assembly,
* a "mayor" for the district government - the winner is also part of the assembly of budapest (since this summer)
* a "major-mayor" , head of the Budapet government

From what I can see, Fidesz is going to win around here and there's no chance of anyone else at all.

Not quite. Locally, there is variety. Especially in Budapest, there are many local constituencies which were never won by Fidesz, the most extreme being the famous XIII.ker (which is incidentally where I grew up), which, as a whole, was always and will alyways be left ,-)

As a demonstration, check out these district parliaments (why do most district government websites not show party-association of the MPs???)
http://www.hegyvidek.hu/onkormanyzat/kepviselotestulethttp://www.ujbuda.hu/page.php?template= … o_testulet

According to analysts, and I do agree, the need for reforming the Budapest assembly 4 months before the election arose precisely from the fear generated by the EU-Parliament-election results, namely that Fidesz majority in the old system was not certain. (Well, little did the Government know, how opposition would do miracles to NOT win the elections...).

There is also the emotional element : "Is there any hope to work for?" - so, even if the present  mayor (Independent/Fidesz backed) wins, which seems likely, but Bokros at least comes close, this would fuel future efforts.

Seriously, what sort of democracy is this?? After extensive net-search in Hungarian(my native), the only serious description of the election system I found is...  the text of the election law!
I did not have time to read and understand the non-Budapest system (relevant for the Megyegyűlés, county council), but if someone is interested I can make an effort to grasp and explain in English. Of course, you can do that too:)

Viva la  dicta... uh, didactics!

Sections II and IV seem relevant:
http://www.valasztas.hu/hu/onkval2014/882/882_1_2.html

fireroller wrote:

Seriously, what sort of democracy is this??

It is a clan/family/group based bureaucracy organized around oral information transfer. Too little information is provided by design, which necessitates you to ask for help of someone else, and thus puts you into a position of "owing" a favor to someone else. This also acts to put pressure on any one individual to act according to a group view, even if that view is contrary to the persons individual interests, else that person will basically freeze and starve because they will not otherwise receive the information and help they need to survive in society. The group ends up owning the individual. Once the group is formed and consolidated, tyranny of the majority can be applied as a democratic methodology.

klsallee wrote:

It is a clan/family/group based bureaucracy organized around oral information transfer. ....

Wow! I thought they were just being difficult.

What you're describing is a kind of group think.  The design is much worse.

I think much of this is a legacy from the Communist time and by design. The system didn't work so knowing someone was a way of skirting around the bureaucracy to get things done practically.  The Communist government also discouraged information sharing in order to maintain divisions between groups and therefore stop people organising themselves into a coherent opposition to Communist rule. The controls were via overt and undecover policing.

There's a parallel here I guess with efficient markets which one could apply to elections. If politicians market themselves by advertising their policies, in order to have efficient markets, worthwhile information must be available to the electrorate in order to make an informed choice.  But what is the information required for the informed choice? It couldn't be based on manifesto alone since all politicians generally lie so what is it?   No idea.

In the aftermath of the election, someone will think of this quote.

"The people have spoken, the bastards."

Dick Tuck's concession speech following his loss in the 1966 California State Senate election.