Hungarian lawmakers on Monday, April 14, overwhelmingly backed constitutional changes targeting the country's LGBTQ community and dual nationals, the latest step to strengthen longtime nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban's self-styled "illiberal" brand of democracy.
Since his return to power in 2010, Hungary's leader has widely restricted the rights of the LGBTQ community, the media, courts and academia. In mid-March, he vowed to undertake an "Easter cleanup" against his domestic opponents he has called "stink bugs."
The constitutional amendment – which proclaims that people can only be male or female – echoes moves on gender by Orban's ally US President Donald Trump. It also allows the "temporary" stripping of citizenship from some dual or multiple nationals, which could target Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, a regular fixture of populist conspiracy theories.
Ahead of the vote on the amendment, which passed parliament with 140 votes in favor to 21 against, a few dozen protesters temporarily blocked an entrance to parliament before police hauled them off. "When we chained ourselves up during the constitution's first overhaul in 2011, we never thought that 14 years later, we would have to do the same thing," said opposition lawmaker Timea Szabo.
Opposition politicians from the liberal Momentum unfurled a banner that read "You can ban us, but not the truth" in parliament, while protesters outside the building chanted "We will not allow ourselves to be transformed into Putin's Russia."
Besides the provision proclaiming that people can only be male or female, another declares that children's rights for their "proper physical, mental and moral development take precedence over all other fundamental rights," except the right to life. That provision is seen as a way to strengthen the legal foundations for the prohibition of the Pride march.
Another prominent provision empowers the government to temporarily strip Hungarian citizenship from dual or multiple nationals – even if they acquired their nationalities by birth. The governing party suggested the move is aimed at "speculators" financing "bogus NGOs, bought politicians and the so-called independent media" from abroad.
A related piece of legislation to be voted on at a later date specifies that Hungarian citizenship can be suspended for a maximum of 10 years and those affected can be expelled from the country. Nationals from other EU member states would be exempt, together with a few other countries in Europe, according to the proposal.
Last week, more than 30 prominent Hungarian legal experts castigated the measure as "an unprecedented construction in international law" that could be contrary to binding human rights conventions.
Critics say the proposed legal changes further erode democratic rights in the central European country, moving the EU member state even closer to the kind of authoritarianism seen under Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
Politically, the measures are seen as an effort to shore up dwindling support for the ruling coalition, divide the opposition along ideological lines, and court the far right ahead of next spring's parliamentary election.
Since last year, Orban has faced an unprecedented challenge from former government insider-turned-opposition leader Peter Magyar, with his TISZA party eroding Fidesz's longtime solid lead, according to several opinion polls.