Hungarian ex-Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany declared a week-long hunger strike in a protest against the government’s plans to reform the election system, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.
Gyurcsany set up a tent on Sunday outside the country’s parliamentary building. He says that a draft law requiring advance voter registration could prevent “hundreds of thousands or even millions” of people from taking part in the elections.
“It is unacceptable that anyone who happens to decide two days before an election that he wants to vote cannot do so and take part in the election,” the agency quoted Gyurcsany, who was the country’s prime minister between 2004 and 2009.
Opponents of the draft law say that it is aimed at suppressing voter turnout in the upcoming parliamentary election in 2014, improving the chances of victory for the ruling party Fidesz.
The government, however, insists that the new reforms will streamline registration of Hungarians living abroad and members of national minorities within Hungary.
