Hungarian parliamentary election, 2010

11 and 25 April 2010

All 386 seats to the Országgyűlés 194 seats needed for a majority

Turnout	64.36% and 46.52%
	First party	Second party

Leader	Viktor Orbán	Attila Mesterházy^[1]
Party	Fidesz	MSZP
Leader since	2003	–
Last election	164	190
Seats won	263 / 386 Fidesz 227, KDNP 36	59 / 386
Seat change	99	131
Popular vote	2,706,292	990,428
Percentage	52.73%	19.30%
Swing	10.70%	23.91%

	Third party	Fourth party

Leader	Gábor Vona	András Schiffer
Party	Jobbik	LMP
Leader since	2006	–
Last election	0	New party
Seats won	47 / 386	16 / 386
Seat change	47	16
Popular vote	855,436	383,876
Percentage	16.67%	7.48%
Swing	16.67%	7.48%

Map showing winning parties

seats won by Fidesz (173)

seats won by MSZP (2)

seat won by independent candidate (1)

Prime Minister before election

Gordon Bajnai
MSZP

Subsequent Prime Minister

Viktor Orbán
Fidesz

Hungary

This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Hungary
Constitution 1949 Constitution
Executive President János Áder Government Current cabinet Prime Minister (list) Viktor Orbán
Parliament National Assembly Speaker: László Kövér Political parties Fidesz Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) Jobbik Politics Can Be Different (LMP) Dialogue for Hungary (PM) Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) Democratic Coalition (DK)
Recent elections Parliamentary: 2010 2014 next Presidential: 2005 2010 2012
Administrative divisions Districts Counties Regions Subregions
Foreign relations
Other countries Atlas Politics portal

Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 11 and 25 April 2010 to choose MPs for the National Assembly.^[2] They were the sixth free elections since the end of communist era. 386 members of parliament were elected in a combined system of party lists and electoral constituencies.^[3]

In the first round of the elections, the conservative party Fidesz won the absolute majority of seats, enough to form a government on its own. In the second round Fidesz-Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) candidates won enough seats to achieve a two-thirds majority required to modify major laws and the country's constitution.

Background

Fidesz's landslide victory was a result of massive dissatisfaction with and voting in protest against MSZP, the Hungarian Socialist Party, which had been in government since 2002, and it was one event and its consequences especially that provoked resentment: in 2006 Ferenc Gyurcsány, the contemporary Prime Minister of Hungary, delegated by MSZP, made a private speech in front of MSZP party members, in which he, although generally outlining a direction to a new beginning and a moral paradigm change in day-to-day policy making, admitted to having been lying to the general public in different matters through a prolonged time during the campaign running up to the previous election, which had resulted among others in his reelection. This speech surfaced in the press in the Autumn of 2006, and resulted in nationwide protests.

Polls

As polls showed both MDF and SZDSZ would be unlikely to make it into parliament on their own, they have agreed to a limited electoral cooperation.^[4] In March 2010, polls also showed that the Hungarian parliament after the election was likely to be completely dominated by Fidesz polling at 53–67% that month, followed by either the ruling Hungarian Socialist Party at 12–22% or newcomer Jobbik (Movement for a Better Hungary) at 11–18%.^[5]^[6]

Opinion polls

Election Party preferences in percentage (What percentage of eligible voters would have voted for the party)
Agency	Date	Fidesz	MSZP	Jobbik	MDF	LMP	SZDSZ	KDNP	Other
Medián^[7]	25 November 2009	66	19	10	2	1	1	n/a	1
Tárki^[8]	25 November 2009	68	17	11	1	1	1	2	n/a
Századvég-Forsense^[9]	26 November 2009	59	20	12	3	3	1	n/a	3
Tárki^[10]	16 December 2009	63	19	12	1	3	1	n/a	n/a
Századvég-Forsense^[11]	21 December 2009	64	17	9	3	2	0	n/a	4
Medián^[12]	25 December 2009	61	23	9	2	1	1	n/a	3
Szonda Ipsos^[13]	17 January 2010	63	21	12	2	n/a	1	0	1
Forsense^[14]	21 January 2010	59	17	15	5	3	n/a	n/a	n/a
Medián^[15]	21 January 2010	65	19	10	3	1	0	n/a	2
Századvég-Kód^[16]	26 January 2010	59	23	10	4	2	1	1	n/a
Tárki^[17]	27 January 2010	62	22	11	3	1	1	n/a	n/a
Szonda Ipsos^[18]	12 February 2010	58	22	14	2	1	1	0	3
Századvég-Kód^[19]	18 February 2010	58	23	10	5	3	1	-	-
Forsense^[20]	22 February 2010	59	18	14	2	5	0	n/a	1
Medián^[21]	24 February 2010	63	18	15	2	1	n/a	n/a	1
Tárki^[22]	3 March 2010	61	22	11	2	3	n/a	n/a	1
Szonda Ipsos^[23]	11 March 2010	57	20	17	1	3	1	0	1
Nézőpont Intézet^[24]	14 March 2010	53	12	12	2	2	n/a	n/a	0
Medián^[25]	17 March 2010	57	21	18	1	2	n/a	n/a	1
Szonda Ipsos^[26]	18 March 2010	64	12	13	3	5	n/a	n/a	3
Gallup^[27]	25 March 2010	67	15	14	1	4	n/a	n/a	0
Századvég-Kód^[28]	29 March 2010	59	16	17	3	3	n/a	n/a	n/a

Controversies

Following the EU elections of 2009, trends showed the rise of right-wing parties and particularly the far right. In this vein, the foreign media cited ominous trends concerning the election results. Fidesz Member of Parliament Oszkár Molnár said that: "I love Hungary, I love Hungarians, and I prefer Hungarian interests to global financial capital, or Jewish capital, if you like, which wants to devour the whole world, but especially Hungary." He later said that, it was only a response to a Shimon Peres speech in which Peres said that his country aims to "colonise" Hungary when he spoke of Israel's investments abroad, Peres said that Israel was "buying out Manhattan, Poland, Hungary...."^[29]^[30] Jobbik leader, Gábor Vona, also stirred up controversy with allegations of chauvinism by saying "Hungary is for Hungarians" and must be defended against "foreign speculators". Molnar also claimed that the language of instruction in Jerusalem schools was Hungarian and they were "learning the language of their future homeland". His party at the time, Fidesz, did not denounce his statement but simply said it was "embarrassing". Adding that he would not even consider ousting Molnar from his party or parliamentary faction, as the remark "did not violate the party's bylaws".^[31] However, in 2010 he was excluded from the Fidesz, due to these remarks. Instead of him, a Lebanese-origin doctor, Pierre Daher became the Fidesz candidate. Molnár also claimed that pregnant Roma women deliberately try to induce birth defects so they can give birth to "fools to receive higher family subsidies. I have checked this and it’s true; they hit their bellies with a rubber hammer so that they’ll give birth to handicapped kids." In 2011, he denounced Roma women at the Hungarian police authorities.^[32]

Another Fidesz parliamentarian, Ilona Ékes, wrote to the police to ban a gay pride event in Budapest, saying that homosexuality was a mental illness and demonstrators would scandalise people, as they did in previous years, when homosexual activists imitated sexual intercourse on stage and other activists were allegedly blasphemous.^[33]^[34] According to Ékes, the demonstrations would harm youngsters, whose school season was to start on the same day.^[35]

A Hungarian analyst was cited as saying Fidesz tolerates such provocative rhetoric from its members because of fears they would vote for Jobbik instead.

Foreign interference

Former Jobbik MEP Krisztina Morvai wrote an open letter^[36] to Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis, the United States ambassador, after her controversial visit to the headquarters of the principal three parties other than Jobbik, while not visiting that of Jobbik, on the night of the election. This was answered^[37] by Richard Field, an American businessman living in Hungary, who is a large financial supporter of Politics Can Be Different.

Results

2010 Hungarian parliamentary election, first round: First-placed candidates by parties in the single-seat constituencies:
██ = majority won by Fidesz-KDNP(119)
██ = plurality, Fidesz-KDNP (56)
██ = plurality, MSZP (1)

2010 Hungarian parliamentary election, first round: second-place candidates by parties in the single-seat constituencies
██ = MSZP (112)
██ = Jobbik (60)
██ = Somogyért Szövetség (1)
██ = Fidesz-KDNP (1)
██ = independent candidate (2)

Summary of the 11 and 25 April 2010 parliamentary election results
Parties		Votes				Seats
		Regional		District (round 1)		Regional	District (round 1+2)	National	Total
		#	%	#	%	Regional	District (round 1+2)	National	#	±
	Fidesz–KDNP	2,703,857	52.7	2,729,327	53.4	87	173	3	263 / 386	99
	Hungarian Socialist Party	989,609	19.3	1,087,097	21.3	28	2	29	59 / 386	131
	Jobbik	854,745	16.7	835,841	16.4	26	0	21	47 / 386	47
	Politics Can Be Different	382,991	7.5	258,078	5.1	5	0	11	16 / 386	16

	Hungarian Democratic Forum	136,695	2.7	72,695	1.4	0	0	0	0 / 386	11
	Civil Movement	45,863	0.9	34,938	0.7	0	0	0	0 / 386	New
	Hungarian Communist Workers' Party	5,606	0.1	5,668	0.1	0	0	0	0 / 386	0
	Parties with less than 0.1% of the vote	8,135	0.2	49,634	1.0	0	0	0	0 / 386
	Independents	0	0.0	33,702	0.7	0	1	0	1 / 386	1
Totals (Turnout 64.4%)		5,127,501	100.0	5,107,471	100.0	146	176	64	386 / 386	0

Turnout

Round 1^[38]
7:00	9:00	11:00	13:00	15:00	17:30	Overall
1.61%	10.23%	24.78%	35.88%	46.78%	59.28%	64.36%

Round 2^[38]
7:00	9:00	11:00	13:00	15:00	17:30	Overall
1.36%	8.50%	19.37%	27.11%	33.54%	41.89%	46.52%

Post-election controversies

Four Jobbik MPs—Gábor Staudt, Gergő Balla, Zsolt Endrésik and Péter Schön—were removed from their committees because they had failed a vetting procedure that asked whether any MP's maintain contact with groups that engage in "activities that deny the basic principles of a state governed by the rule of law." Staudt, a co-founder of the Magyar Gárda Society—that was banned in 2007—had been on the national security committee, while the other three were on the defence and law enforcement committees. Staudt reacted in saying he found the result to be unconstitutional, and that he would file a criminal report with the interior minister against Defence of the Constitution Office director general László Balajti. The four would, however, continue to be MPs.^[39]

References

External links

NSD - European Election Database - Hungary

Elections and referendums in Hungary

As part of Austria-Hungary (1840s–1918)

Parliamentary elections	1848 1861 1865 1869 1872 1875 1878 1881 1884 1887 1892 1896 1901 1905 1906 1910

Independent Hungary (1918–present)

Parliamentary elections	1920 1922 1926 1931 1935 1939 1944 1945 1947 1949 1953 1958 1963 1967 1971 1975 1980 1985 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 next by-elections

European elections	2004 2009 2014

Local elections	1949 1953 1958 1963 1967 1971 1975 1980 1985 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014

Referendums	1989 1990 1997 2003 2004 2008

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