Ukraine has banned two high-level Hungarian officials from entering the country after they openly agitated in support of a Hungarian party during local elections in Zakarpattia Oblast, a Western region of Ukraine that neighbors Hungary, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Oct. 26.
One of these officials is a state secretary of the Office of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Kuleba did not identify the second one, but said that a few more Hungarian officials will be denied entry.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not reply to the Kyiv Post’s request for comment.
Ukraine held local elections on Oct. 25. The vote was conducted under new electoral and land codes. Due to the country’s ongoing decentralization reform, the winners of the elections will be granted more power and more tax money than their predecessors. This makes the vote particularly important.
But, in Zakarpattia, the local contest unleashed an international diplomatic scandal between Ukraine and Hungary, countries whose relations had already been sour for years.
‘Interference’ in Ukraine’s affairs
In the run-up to the Oct. 25 vote, Hungarian officials made multiple attempts to attract more support for Hungarian political forces in Zakarpattia, which has a sizeable Hungarian population. That enraged Ukrainian diplomats.
In early October, János Árpád Potápi, a state secretary for national policy in the Hungarian government, visited Zakarpattia and participated in a number of events. During these meetings, he encouraged people to vote for the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine, according to Opora, a Ukrainian election watchdog.
Ukrainian legislation bans foreigners from campaigning in elections, Opora said on its website and called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take action.
On Oct. 20, the ministry issued a statement and warned its Hungarian counterparts about “violating the electoral legislation of Ukraine and attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of our state.” It also asked the police to investigate.
Hungarian diplomats replied that they do not view Potápi’s action as political agitation, but rather as “constitutional obligation,” the Hungarian service of RFE/RL reported.
“Hungary is responsible for the fate of Hungarians living outside its borders,” the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, according to RFE/RL.
The campaigning went on. On election day on Oct. 25, another high-ranking Hungarian official agitated for the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine.
Peter Szijjarto, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote a post on Facebook where he called on voters in Ukraine to choose the Hungarian party.
“Only one Hungarian organization, the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine, is running to enter the Zakarpattia Oblast Council, and it would be bad if Hungarians were left without oblast-level representation,” Szijjarto wrote.
Not only are foreigners prohibited from campaigning in Ukrainian elections, but all agitation is banned on election day under the Ukrainian electoral code.
On Oct. 26, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Hungary’s ambassador to its headquarters to hand him a note of protest accusing Hungarian officials of political agitation during the local elections in Ukraine.
Later that day, the news broke that Ukraine was banning the two Hungarian officials.
Szijjarto called this move “pathetic and senseless” in a video address he posted on his Facebook the next day.
Ukraine made unfriendly steps and thus showed that it rejects the support of Hungary in the country’s attempt to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO, Szijjarto said, according to Deutsche Welle.
Hungary has a long track record of trying to intervene in Ukraine’s attempts to join NATO. It says it does this in response to Ukraine’s language policy, which Hungary views as discriminatory against national minorities.
The party
While the Central Electoral Commission has not yet issued the official results, exit polls suggest the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine has met some success.
According to the Ukraina 24 exit poll, the party overcame the 5% entry barrier with 5.35% of the vote and made it into the Uzhgorod city council.
Babják Zoltán, the acting mayor of Berehove, a city in Zakarpattia, won 72% of votes, according to his own estimates, he wrote on Facebook.
Szijjarto backed Zoltán and praised his work as mayor in his scandalous Facebook post.
