FOREWORD

The President of the Republic of Hungary has posted the general election of Members of Parliament to take place on April 7 and April 21, 2002. Hungarian voters yet again may freely decide what political force shall govern the country’s state affairs during the next four years.
Guests arriving from abroad for the elections will be able to access direct and authentic information about the election events on the Internet and several television channels. The National Election Office wishes to support the work of international election observers, election experts and press with this guideline as well. 
In the first section we offer an introduction of the electoral system in Hungary: the activity, operation and competence of the electoral committees, the determination of election results, the rules for distributing mandates (appendix), and the most important features of the election campaign.
The second section contains the description of the IT system (the computerized data-processing) used for the complete election process.
In the third section we introduce the National Election Centre. 
The fourth section contains the Acts and the Measure of the National Election Office concerning the parliamentary elections.
In the Appendix you may find the samples of the official reports of single-member constituency polling stations and committees, that are parctically useful in observing the process of voting.
Following along the lines of tradition from the previous elections the National Electoral Office intends to ensure public access to the election process to the general public, including international observers. We are hoping that our publications will support our efforts in this respect and that we shall be able to help the work of international observers arriving in Hungary in this way.

                                Dr. Irén Sipos
                                   Head of the National Election Office