Hungary: Survey Reveals Big Majority Believe Tobacco Shop awards Skewed towards Fidesz Loyalists

Source from:  All Hungary Media Group (AHMG) (hu)  07/01/2013

The majority of Hungarians, 68%, believe that the award of tobacco retail licences was primarily based on political considerations, and that most of the winners are people linked to Fidesz, according to a Medián survey.

Only 18% of respondents agreed that the best prepared people were granted the right to open tobacco retail outlets.

A slight majority of 51% would revoke the new law on tobacco retail, invalidate the tender and continue to allow distribution through existing outlets.

Another 26% said they would start the bidding process from scratch and leave it to an independent panel to assess the applicants without bias.

Cigarettes and other tobacco products will be available only from the new licensed outlets from Monday. Enditem