OSCE Says Hungarian, Serbian Elections Marred By 'Absence' Of Level Playing Fields

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says weekend elections in both Serbia and Hungary were marred by their "absence" of level playing fields.

The OSCE said in a statement on April 4 that in Hungary, voting was well run and offered "distinct" alternatives, but its mission of 312 observers from 45 countries found the balloting was damaged "by the pervasive overlapping of government and ruling coalition's messaging that blurred the line between state and party, as well as by media bias and opaque campaign funding."

In the April 3 general election, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party scored a landslide victory, taking just over 53 percent of the vote, compared with 35 percent by the united opposition coalition led by Peter Marki-Zay.

In an unprecedented move for an EU member state, the OSCE deployed a full monitoring mission for the vote amid concerns over potential election fraud and the use of state resources to give the ruling party an unfair advantage.

The OSCE also criticized a tandem referendum held on a new law banning the portrayal of LGBT people to those under 18 years of age.

"The legal framework for the referendum held on the same day as the elections was largely inadequate for a democratic process and did not provide equal opportunities for referendum campaigns," the OSCE said of the plebiscite, which failed due to a lack of ballots cast.

Many have criticized the referendum since the controversial law was already approved last year.

The OSCE was similarly critical of presidential and parliamentary elections held in neighboring Serbia the same day.

The OSCE said they too were held on "an uneven playing field" with a number of shortcomings tipping the process in favor of the incumbents.

"This was a competitive campaign and, importantly, included opposition candidates this time, but the pervasive influence of the ruling parties gave them undue advantage," said Kyriakos Hadjiyianni, special coordinator and leader of the OSCE short-term observers.

Early official results showed President Aleksandar Vucic easily winning a second five-year term in office, while his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) also took the most votes.

Throughout the campaign, his critics complained that the president had tightened his grip on power through his control of the media and government to a point where a survey last month by the pollster Demostat showed 43 percent of the country didn't believe the elections would be free or fair.