House Hungarian Caucus Statement on Hungarian Election

Caucus Co-Chairs Harris, Joyce, and Kaptur Congratulate Prime Minister Orbán

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Andy Harris, M.D. (MD-01), Dave Joyce (OH-14), and Marcy Kaptur (OH-9), Co-Chairs of the House Hungarian Caucus, released the following statement following the Parliamentary elections in Hungary on April 6, 2014:

On behalf of the House Hungarian Caucus, we congratulate Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on his party’s electoral victory. In 1989, Hungarians led the way in dismantling the Iron Curtain by calling for free and fair elections. Like our own Founding Fathers, what Hungarians yearned for during the decades of communist dictatorship was “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Twenty-five years later, Hungary is a member of the EU, a strong ally within NATO, and Hungarians have seen democratic self-government flourish. This is the seventh time since Hungary’s first democratic elections in 1990 that Hungarians have chosen their duly elected representatives through free and fair elections.

As recent events in Ukraine and Crimea show, free and fair elections are not something to be taken for granted in the region, and we look forward to working together with the government to advance our shared ideals of inclusiveness and human rights for all people. As co-chairs of the Hungarian Caucus in the U.S. Congress, we express our hope that members of this legislative body and the Hungarian Parliament will continue to work on issues of common interest. We look forward to welcoming the new Members of the Hungarian Parliament to Washington.