2010 Hungarian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 11 and 25 April 2010 to elect the members of the National Assembly.^[1] They were the sixth free elections since the end of the communist era. 386 Members of Parliament (MPs) were elected in a combined system of party lists and electoral constituencies.^[2] Electoral law in Hungary requires candidates to gather 500 signatures from citizens supporting their candidacy.

2010 Hungarian parliamentary election

← 2006 11 April 2010 (first round) 25 April 2010 (second round) 2014 →
Members elected →
All 386 seats in the Országgyűlés 194 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	64.38% (first round) 46.66% (second round)
First party Second party   Leader Viktor Orbán Attila Mesterházy Party Fidesz–KDNP MSZP Leader since 17 May 2003 12 December 2009[a] Last election 164 seats, 42.03% 192 seats, 43.21% Seats won 263 / 386 Fidesz 227, KDNP 36 59 / 386 Seat change 99 133 1R vote and % 2,729,327 (53.4%) 1,087,097 (21.3%) 2R vote and % 620,232 (53.8%) 326,361 (28.3%) Party vote 2,706,292 990,428  % and swing 52.73% 10.70 pp 19.30% 23.91 pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Gábor Vona András Schiffer Party Jobbik LMP Leader since 25 November 2006 2009 Last election 0 seats, 2.20% Did not exist Seats won 47 / 386 16 / 386 Seat change 47 New party 1R vote and % 835,841 (16.4%) 258,078 (5.1%) 2R vote and % 141,415 (12.3%) 43,437 (3.8%) Party vote 855,436 383,876  % and swing 16.67% 14.47 pp 7.48% New
Results of the election. A darker shade indicates a higher vote share. Proportional list results are displayed in the top left.
Government before election Bajnai Government MSZP Government after election Second Orbán Government Fidesz–KDNP

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, the alliance of Fidesz and the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) 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 the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), which had been in government since 2002. One event that provoked an especially strong backlash was the revelation that the MSZP's Ferenc Gyurcsány, Prime Minister from 2004 to 2009, had admitted in a private speech to party members that he had lied to the general public during the previous election campaign to help his party win re-election. The Őszöd speech, as it came to be called, surfaced in the press during the autumn of 2006 and resulted in nationwide protests.

Polls

The Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) and Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) entered a limited electoral cooperation agreement after polls suggested that they would be unlikely to make it into parliament independently.^[3] In March 2010, polls also indicated that parliament after the election would likely be 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%.^[4][5]

Opinion polls

Election Party preferences in percentage (What percentage of eligible voters would have voted for the party)
Agency	Date	Fidesz-KDNP	MSZP	Jobbik	MDF	LMP	SZDSZ	KDNP	Other
Medián[6]	25 November 2009	66	19	10	2	1	1	n/a	1
Tárki[7]	25 November 2009	68	17	11	1	1	1	2	n/a
Századvég-Forsense[8]	26 November 2009	59	20	12	3	3	1	n/a	3
Tárki[9]	16 December 2009	63	19	12	1	3	1	n/a	n/a
Századvég-Forsense[10]	21 December 2009	64	17	9	3	2	0	n/a	4
Medián[11]	25 December 2009	61	23	9	2	1	1	n/a	3
Szonda Ipsos[12]	17 January 2010	63	21	12	2	n/a	1	0	1
Forsense[13]	21 January 2010	59	17	15	5	3	n/a	n/a	n/a
Medián[14]	21 January 2010	65	19	10	3	1	0	n/a	2
Századvég-Kód[15]	26 January 2010	59	23	10	4	2	1	1	n/a
Tárki[16]	27 January 2010	62	22	11	3	1	1	n/a	n/a
Szonda Ipsos[17]	12 February 2010	58	22	14	2	1	1	0	3
Századvég-Kód[18]	18 February 2010	58	23	10	5	3	1	-	-
Forsense[19]	22 February 2010	59	18	14	2	5	0	n/a	1
Medián[20]	24 February 2010	63	18	15	2	1	n/a	n/a	1
Tárki[21]	3 March 2010	61	22	11	2	3	n/a	n/a	1
Szonda Ipsos[22]	11 March 2010	57	20	17	1	3	1	0	1
Nézőpont Intézet[23]	14 March 2010	53	12	12	2	2	n/a	n/a	0
Medián[24]	17 March 2010	57	21	18	1	2	n/a	n/a	1
Szonda Ipsos[25]	18 March 2010	64	12	13	3	5	n/a	n/a	3
Gallup[26]	25 March 2010	67	15	14	1	4	n/a	n/a	0
Századvég-Kód[27]	29 March 2010	59	16	17	3	3	n/a	n/a	n/a

Controversies

The European Parliament elections of 2009 in Hungary saw the rise of right-wing and far-right parties. This trend was covered negatively by some foreign media outlets that feared the rise of intolerance and xenophobia in the country.^[28] In addition, Fidesz Member of Parliament Oszkár Molnár was accused of antisemitism after saying "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 speech by President of Israel Shimon Peres in which Peres said that his country aims to "colonise" Hungary when he spoke of Israel's investments abroad, and claimed 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".^{[citation needed]} Molnár 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] 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.^{[clarification needed][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.^{[citation needed]}

Foreign interference

Former Jobbik MEP Krisztina Morvai wrote an open letter to Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis, the United States Ambassador to Hungary, alleging foreign interference after the ambassador visited the headquarters of three major parties but not that of Jobbik.^[36]

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)

Party		Proportional			SMCs (first round)			SMCs (second round)			Seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	National	Total	+/–
	Fidesz-KDNP	2,706,292	52.73	87	2,732,965	53.43	119	620,232	53.81	53	3	262	+99
	Hungarian Socialist Party	990,428	19.30	28	1,088,374	21.28	0	326,361	28.31	2	29	59	–131
	Jobbik	855,436	16.67	26	836,774	16.36	0	141,415	12.27	0	21	47	+47
	Politics Can Be Different	383,876	7.48	5	259,220	5.07	0	43,437	3.77	0	11	16	+16
	Hungarian Democratic Forum	136,895	2.67	0	72,768	1.42	0				0	0	–11
	Civil Movement	45,863	0.89	0	34,938	0.68	0				0	0	New
	Hungarian Workers' Party	5,606	0.11	0	5,668	0.11	0				0	0	0
	Social Democratic Party of Hungary	4,117	0.08	0	3,156	0.06	0				0	0	New
	Unity Party	2,732	0.05	0	3,422	0.07	0				0	0	New
	Hungarian Justice and Life Party	1,286	0.03	0	2,345	0.05	0				0	0	0
	Hungarian Democratic Forum–Alliance of Free Democrats				12,652	0.25	0				0	0	–
	Fidesz–KDNP–Entrepreneurs' Party				10,661	0.21	0	8,796	0.76	1	0	1	–
	Association for Somogy				7,470	0.15	0				0	0	–1
	Hungarian Democratic Forum–Összefogás Megyénkért				4,052	0.08	0				0	0	–
	Torgyán-Kisgazda-Koalíció				3,079	0.06	0				0	0	New
	Green Left				1,425	0.03	0				0	0	New
	Magyarok Egymásért Szövetsége				1,027	0.02	0				0	0	New
	Forum of Hungarian Gypsy Organizations Roma Co-operation Party				491	0.01	0				0	0	0
	Independent Smallholders Party				381	0.01	0				0	0	0
	Independents				33,702	0.66	0	12,452	1.08	1	–	1	+1
Total		5,132,531	100.00	146	5,114,570	100.00	119	1,152,693	100.00	57	64	386	0
Valid votes		5,132,531	99.27		5,114,570	98.93		1,152,693	99.39
Invalid/blank votes		37,908	0.73		55,428	1.07		7,118	0.61
Total votes		5,170,439	100.00		5,169,998	100.00		1,159,811	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		8,034,394	64.35		8,034,394	64.35		2,486,111	46.65
Source: National Election Office, Election Resources

Party list results by county

County[37][38]	Fidesz-KDNP	MSZP	Jobbik	LMP	MDF	Others
Bács-Kiskun	60.45	14.62	15.70	5.58	2.23	1.43
Baranya	54.53	21.07	12.68	8.90	2.83	–
Békés	53.20	18.45	19.21	5.21	2.05	1.89
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén	45.87	18.90	27.20	4.20	1.84	1.98
Budapest	46.32	25.33	10.84	12.81	4.70	–
Csongrád	50.72	20.38	15.93	7.66	2.57	2.75
Fejér	54.16	17.91	16.20	6.96	2.69	2.07
Győr-Moson-Sopron	59.68	16.87	12.57	6.32	2.95	1.60
Hajdú-Bihar	57.92	14.04	18.86	5.05	2.34	1.78
Heves	45.78	21.02	24.97	6.04	2.19	–
Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok	49.42	17.88	24.01	5.65	2.13	0.91
Komárom-Esztergom	51.31	23.39	13.76	8.37	3.17	–
Nógrád	51.84	20.39	20.82	5.57	–	1.37
Pest	52.90	17.58	16.52	8.35	2.75	1.89
Somogy	59.63	19.74	14.23	6.39	–	–
Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg	53.84	14.84	23.64	2.86	1.81	3.01
Tolna	58.68	17.88	15.44	5.45	2.54	–
Vas	62.77	16.96	12.09	6.37	–	1.81
Veszprém	56.79	18.81	14.66	7.15	2.59	–
Zala	57.21	16.85	16.91	5.80	2.65	0.58
Total	52.73	19.30	16.67	7.48	2.67	1.16

Turnout

All times are CEST.

Round 1^[39]

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^[39]

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.^[40]

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Notes

1. Mesterházy was selected as the MSZP's Prime Minister candidate on 12 December 2009, but was not leader of the party until July 2010.

External links

• NSD - European Election Database - Hungary Archived 2014-06-22 at the Wayback Machine