[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 68 (Tuesday, April 26, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E409]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONGRATULATING HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBAN ON RE-ELECTION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PAUL A. GOSAR

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 26, 2022

  Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Hungarian 
Prime Minister Viktor Orban on his resounding reelection. The people of 
Hungary, in a super majority, not only supported him, but his party. In 
my view, the recipe to his success in Hungary is simple: put Hungary 
first, always. By focusing on what is good for Hungarians, Mr. Orban 
rejected internationalism, socialism, and subservience to non-sensical 
European Union mandates. It is a model, quite frankly, we should follow 
in the United States, where we seal our borders to protect our citizens 
and our economy, where we focus on rebuilding families, where we focus 
on the spirit of our people through God, not just material pursuits, 
and where we make economic policies that protect our own people and do 
not subsidize others.
  I am also including in the Record the following statement from 
Judicial Watch and Mr. Tom Fitton, its President. They sent a team of 
election observers to Hungary and found it was a well run, orderly, and 
fair election, with no corruption. The same cannot be said about our 
own elections. Congratulations to Mr. Orban, and Mr. Fitton, for the 
good work they are doing.

 Judicial Watch Team Observes Hungary Elections--Praises Election Day 
                               Processes

       Washington, DC.--Judicial Watch announced today that it 
     sent a six-member team to observe Election Day procedures 
     during the April 3, 2022, Hungarian parliamentary and 
     referendum national elections. A Judicial Watch report on the 
     Hungarian election concluded that the administration of the 
     vote on Election Day was efficient, orderly, and 
     unremarkable.
       The team was led by attorneys who previously worked for the 
     Department of Justice's Voting Section monitoring state and 
     federal elections in the United States. The team also 
     included lawyers who had monitored elections for Judicial 
     Watch.
       Judicial Watch's representatives observed voting in 52 
     precincts at 27 locations in and around Budapest. The 
     Judicial Watch team did not observe any meaningful problems 
     throughout the day. Despite a high national turnout rate 
     approaching 70%, lines were usually brief and only rarely 
     exceeded 15 minutes. The Hungarian electoral practice of 
     including representatives of every party of any size at each 
     voter registration desk appears to have contributed to a low-
     controversy environment. In some ways, according to the 
     report, the administration of the vote was more effective, 
     and less chaotic, than what team members had observed in 
     previous elections in parts of the United States.
       Judicial Watch's monitoring methodology emphasizes ballot 
     access, meaning the ability of citizens to easily register 
     and cast an equal vote in an election. It particularly 
     focuses on recording specific Election Day problems 
     concerning unlawful electioneering, arbitrary variations in 
     the rules for voting, aggressive voting assistance, unusual 
     ballot handling, voter intimidation or confrontations, and 
     voter ``turn aways.''
       Judicial Watch noted that its methodology contrasted with 
     the approach adopted by other international observers, who 
     often criticized the Hungarian elections based on value 
     judgments about matters like media bias, negative 
     campaigning, campaign finance policy, and the prevalence of 
     women candidates. The report stated that these ``are matters 
     more appropriately addressed by editorial boards, not 
     election monitoring teams.''
       ``The transnational Left swarmed Hungary in order to try to 
     create controversy about the election of their ideological 
     opponent, Viktor Orban. By contrast, Judicial Watch's expert 
     election observer team found virtually no issues in the 
     conduct of the elections in Hungary,'' stated Judicial Watch 
     President Tom Fitton.

                          ____________________