PRESENT STATE OF POLITICS IN HUNGARY

(courtesy Institute Molinari, Italy)

        Above is the main staircase of the Parliamentary building, better known as the "House of the Nation" designed by the architect Imre Steindl. It leads tourists and heads of state into the world of Hungarian politics as it is known today.
        At present, after this Spring's elections in Hungary, the nation ousted the previous Prime Minister Victor Orban for the Socilaist/Liberal Free Democrats' candidate Peter Medgyessy. In the New York Times article, "Hungarians Choose Socialist as New Leader" Medgyessy, it is pointed out, aims toward gaining admission to the European Union as well as strengthening democratic reforms, increasing business competition, and fostering a free press. All these themes seem to indicate that Medgyessy intends to move Hungary towards a speedy progression towards EU membership. Indeed Hungary is slated to be one of the first Eastern Bloc nations to enter the EU in 2004.
    In addition to the Prime Minister, Hungary has a titular President who serves a somewhat ceremonial function who according to Article 29 of the Hungarian constitution, "who symbolises the unity of the nation and watches over the democratic functioning of the state." The President may cosign legislation with the Prime Minister, but he has singular authority to recommend bills be sent to the Supreme Court to rule on their legality. Ferenc Madal, the current President of Hungary, is a lawyer and legal scholar who worked in Josef Antall's government in the early 1990s.

President Ferenc Madal speaking at the UN (image courtesy of CNN.com )

Prime Minister Peter Medgyessey with flower ( image courtesy of La Vanguardia )
At present there are ten major parties in the country some of which have mass popular appeal and some of which have a specialized focuses. The Communist Party of Hungary was brought down by the activism and reforms pressured for by the Hungarian Democratic Forum and the FIDESZ or Young Democratic Party (including a very young Viktor Orban). While the Democratic Forum was thought to be a rightest if not nationalistic party, the selection of Josef Antall who came from a prominent anti-Nazi family, allayed many of these concerns. The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) is a reformed Communist Party, and one of the more successful transition stories in Eastern Europe. When the won office in 1994 many analysts feared a return to Communist economic and social system, yet it was the reformed Communist party that made the difficult economic reforms passed on by the former government, reforms that awarded Hungary an International Monetary Fund loan and reaffirmed Hungary's economic growth. The final party of note is the Hungarian Justice and Life Party, founded in 1993. It is the radical right in Hungarian politics and the party's vice president was recently censored for anti-Semetic views espoused in public (Agency France Press, Dec. 6, 2002).

The 2002 elections have reaffirmed a trend in Hungarian politics which shows the consolidation of major left/right parties and the periphilization of smaller parties. The FIDESZ and MSZP together totalled 92% (Socialists 48/Young Democrats 42) of the votes in the first round of parliamentary elections. After a 71% voter turnout in the runoff elections the MSZP took 198 seats in the Parliament and the incumbent FIDESZ took 188, yet FIDESZ did when the popular vote 49/46. While some have criticisized this development as loss of democratic ethos, others note that radical parties like the MIEP have been marginalized (receiving only 3% of the vote) as has their message, meaning that the FIDESZ or Democratic Forums could not utilize them as a coalition partner, something often though Viktor Orban may have done in dire straits to be reelected.

The Hungarian Democratic Forum (of which Antall was their Prime Minister
                              PARTIES
                   *1. Keresztény Demokrata Néppárt (KDNP)
                             (Christian Democratic Party)
                    2. Magyar Demokrata Neppart (MDNP)
                            (Hungarian Democratic People's Party)
                    3. Magyar Szocialista Part (MSZP)
                             (Hungarian Socialist Party)
                  *4. Szabad Demokratak Szovetsege (SzDSz)
                             (Alliance of Free Democrats)
                    5. Hungarian Democratic People's Party (MDNP)
                             source: (Central Europe Online)
                   *6. Munkáspárt (MP)
                             (Worker's Party)
                    7. Fiatal Demokraták Szövetsége - Magyar Polgári Párt - Fidesz-MPP
                             (Alliance of Young Democrats)
                   *8. Magyar Demokrata Fórum (MDF)
                             (Hungarian Democratic Forum)
                   *9. Független Kisgazda - Földmunkás (FkgP)
                             (Independent Smallholder's Party)
                   *10. MIEP
                             (Hungarian Justice and Life Party)

*More detail on the major seven political parties can be found HERE.

Hungary's Parliment
(image courtesy of the Hungarian government)

Hungarian politics can be so complex you might say that in some cases they are lucky to have an operating parliament at all. Made up of 386 seats, the Parliment's (National Assembly) members are apportioned in one of three ways (provided that the party receive over 5% of the popular vote):

1. Individual Constituencies
One hundred and seventy-six seats in the National Assembly are elected through individual constituencies. In order to win an election in an individual constituency s/he must win more than 50% of the vote from the area. However, in the case that less than 50% of the possible voters turnout to vote then voting continues until one candidate receives more than 50% of the votes.

2. "Territorial" Constituencies
Another one hundred and fifty-two seats are reserved to be divied out by proportional population figures for the twenty county and metropolitan territories. These are alloted in much the same way that congressional representatives are apportioned to states in the United States.

3. Compensation Seats
There are fifty-eight seats reserved for the National Election Committee to divy up to parlimentary factions. Before 1998 in order to be considered a parlimentary faction, a party had to receive 15 mandates inside Parliament before they are allowed to be a seperate faction.

        OTHER HELPFUL LINKS REGARDING HUNGARIAN POLITICS
                *Basic Politics.
                *Ministries and Government.
                *Office of the Hungarian President.
                *Hungarian Elections Homepage .(Note: a really fascinating webpage with terrific charts of turnout over time on election day)

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