The court found that Prime Minister Orban and Gabor Szucs, Fidesz's candidate for MP, violated the electoral principle of equal opportunities. According to the ruling, the use of a child gives greater visibility and popularity.
The case concerns a recording from a rally in Kaposvar, where the prime minister brought a small child onto the stage. This moment, widely shared on the Internet, was also shared by parliamentary candidate Gabor Szucs. According to the lawsuit, the child became the focal point of the video, turning it into a campaign tool.
The court emphasized that the problem does not concern the mere presence of children at political events, because families have the right to participate in such gatherings, and children may appear incidentally in crowd recordings. But the use of a child as the main element in promotional materials aimed at increasing the popularity of politicians exceeds the limits of the law – marked.
The weekly “HVG” noted that the ruling also clarified that restrictions on the use of children in political campaigns apply not only in schools and kindergartens, but in all other places, and this interpretation broadens the current understanding of child protection in the context of elections.
The judges drew attention to additional threats related to such practices, such as the possibility of spreading similar content in an uncontrolled manner or popularizing it, e.g. in the form of memes.
