Summary Hungary has agreed to cancel the controversial new law regarding voter registration.
BUDAPEST - Hungary s government said Friday it would cancel a controversial new law on compulsory voter registration after the country s top court ruled it unconstitutional.
"There will be no voter registration in 2014," Antal Rogan, head of the parliamentary group of the ruling Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, told journalists after the constitutional court decision.
Opposition parties had said the new requirement, approved in November but not yet in force, to register no later than 15 days before election day was a thinly veiled attempt by Orban to tilt the system in his favour ahead of the 2014 vote.
In the latest piece of legislation passed by the Orban government to come under fire, they had said that the changes curtailed civil rights and would significantly reduce voter turnout.
This in turn would strongly increase the chances of Orban s right-wing government retaining power in the next elections, due in early 2014, analysts had said.
The court agreed on Friday, ruling that the law "infringes on voting rights to an unjustifiable degree, due to the fact that the requirement for voters to register prior to going to the polls applies to every voter".
In December President Janos Ader -- usually an Orban ally -- had referred the law to the court, adding that other elements also gave "cause for concern", including new restrictions on election campaigning and advertising.
Late December, the court also ruled that the law was unconstitutional on technical grounds, an objection the government had said it would fix in parliament early this year.
"The court s decision shows that Fidesz wants to hold on to power with unconstitutional rules and elections, and won t shy away from restricting citizens voting rights," said the opposition Together 2014 movement via a statement.
"If Fidesz responds to the court s decision with technical legal tricks then no threats will prevent democrats who want change in Hungary from expressing their protests on the streets and squares," it continued.
Armed with a two-thirds majority in parliament after sweeping to power in 2010, Orban s other option after Friday s court ruling would have been to change the constitution.
"The government has the power to incorporate registration into the constitution but it would lead to a serious political battle and cause confusion at the elections," Rogan said however.
