Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians

The Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (Hungarian: Vajdasági Magyar Szövetség, abbr. VMSZ; Serbian: Савез војвођанских Мађара, romanized: Savez vojvođanskih Mađara, abbr. SVM) is a regionalist political party in Serbia, representing the Hungarian minority.

Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians Vajdasági Magyar Szövetség Савез војвођанских Мађара
Abbreviation	VMSZ, SVM
President	Bálint Pásztor
Vice-Presidents	Borisz Bájity József Kerekes Annamária Vicsek
Parliamentary leader	Bálint Pásztor
Founder	József Kasza
Founded	18 June 1994
Split from	Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians
Headquarters	Trg žrtava fašizma 9, Subotica
Membership (2015)	12,000[1]
Ideology	Hungarian minority interests Regionalism Conservatism
Political position	Centre-right
European affiliation	European People's Party (associate)
International affiliation	Centrist Democrat International
Parliamentary group	Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians
Colours	Green
National Assembly	6 / 250
Assembly of Vojvodina	9 / 120
City Assembly of Belgrade	1 / 110
Party flag
Website
vmsz.org.rs
Politics of Serbia Political parties Elections

History

Foundation and early history

The party was founded in 1994 in Senta by József Kasza and former members of the Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians as a citizen group which in 1995 was registered as a political party.^[2] They participated in the 1997 parliamentary election in which they won 1.23% of the vote and 4 seats in the National Assembly.^[3] In early 2000, it was one of the founding members of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) which ousted the president Slobodan Milošević later that year. In the 2000 parliamentary election they participated under the DOS coalition and the party won 6 seats in the parliament.^[4]

Post-Milošević era and leadership change

From the early 2000s, they started promoting an idea to form a Hungarian Regional Autonomy in the northern part of Vojvodina. In the 2003 parliamentary election they ended up not passing the electoral threshold with 4.23% of the vote.^[5] In 2007 they participated alone and they won 1.3% of the vote and 3 seats in the parliament.^[6] They also participated in the 2004 provincial election in Vojvodina and the party won 8.50% of vote in the one-round voting system and was part of the ruling coalition in the Vojvodina provincial parliament. In the 2004 local elections, the party won the largest number of seats in the municipal parliaments of Subotica, Senta, Bačka Topola, Mali Iđoš, Kanjiža (where Reformists of Vojvodina won same number of seats) and Čoka. In 2008, the party elected István Pásztor as their new president while József Kasza remained as the honorary president until 2010, when his membership was revoked.^[7] In 2008, they participated in the provincial election in Vojvodina, local elections and parliamentary election and they were a part of the Hungarian Coalition which won 7% of the vote in the provincial election and 1.81% and 4 seats in the parliamentary election, while in Kanjiža they won 50.91%, in Senta 31.87%, Bačka Topola 46.25%, Mali Iđoš 37.18%, and Bečej 29.63%.^[8] Since the introduction of the multi-party system in Serbia, the mayor of Subotica was often from the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians. That has changed after local elections 2008,^[9] when Democratic Party won the largest number of votes in this city.

Modern period

In 2012, they participated in the parliamentary election, local elections, provincial election and presidential election. In the parliamentary election, they won 1.75% of the vote and 5 seats in the National Assembly, in Novi Sad they won one seat while in Subotica they won 22.52% of the vote, in the provincial election they won 5.83% of the vote and 7 seats, and in the presidential election, in the first round, Pásztor won 1.62% of the vote in the first round while in the second round he supported Boris Tadić.^[10] Since the 2014 parliamentary election, they have been supporting the ruling SNS-led coalition. In 2014 they won 2.1% of the vote and 6 seats in the parliament, in 2016 they won 1.5% of the vote and lost two seats and then in 2020 they won 2.23% of the vote and got 5 more seats in the parliament.

Bálint Pásztor was elected as leader of the VMSZ at a party convention in Senta on 2 March 2024. The only candidate for the position, he received the support of 333 out of 335 delegates in attendance.^[11]

Political positions

Besides being supportive of Hungarian minority interests,^[12][13] the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians also maintains a conservative ideology,^[14] and is also supportive of regionalism.^[15][16][17] Its foreign policies are considered to be pro-Western, and it supports Serbia's accession to the European Union and NATO.^[13][18] It was considered a social-democratic party until 2010, when it shifted their support towards the Serbian Progressive Party and Fidesz.^[19][20]

It is positioned on the centre-right on the political spectrum.^[19][21] It is also an associate member of the European People's Party.^[22]

In the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, VMSZ has been associated with the European People's Party since 2007.^[23]

Electoral performance

Parliamentary elections

National Assembly of Serbia

Year	Leader	Popular vote	% of popular vote	#	# of seats	Seat change	Coalition	Status
1997	József Kasza	50,960	1.28%	7th	4 / 250	4	–	Opposition
2000		2,404,758	65.69%	1st	6 / 250	2	DOS	Government
2003		161,765	4.29%	7th	0 / 250	6	ZZT	Extra-parliamentary
2007		52,510	1.32%	10th	3 / 250	3	–	Opposition
2008	István Pásztor	74,874	1.85%	6th	4 / 250	1	MK	Support
2012		68,323	1.83%	9th	5 / 250	1	–	Opposition
2014		75,294	2.17%	9th	6 / 250	1	–	Support
2016		56,620	1.54%	8th	4 / 250	2	VMSZ–VMDP	Support
2020		71,893	2.32%	7th	9 / 250	5	–	Support
2022		60,313	1.63%	11th	5 / 250	4	–	Support
2023	Bálint Pásztor	64,747	1.74%	7th	6 / 250	1	–	Support

Presidential elections

President of Serbia

Year	Candidate	1st round popular vote		% of popular vote	2nd round popular vote		% of popular vote	Notes
Sep 1997	did not participate							Election annulled due to low turnout
Dec 1997
Sep–Oct 2002								Election annulled due to low turnout
Dec 2002								Election annulled due to low turnout
2003								Election annulled due to low turnout
2004
2008	István Pásztor	6th	93,039	2.30%	—	—	—
2012		9th	63,420	1.70%	—	—	—
2017	Aleksandar Vučić	1st	2,012,788	56.01%	—	—	—	Supported Vučić
2022		1st	2,224,914	60.01%	—	—	—

Provincial elections

Assembly of Vojvodina

Year	Leader	Popular vote	% of popular vote	#	# of seats	Seat change	Coalition	Status
1996	József Kasza	–	–	3rd	13 / 120	13	–	Support
2000		–	–	2nd	14 / 120	1	–	Government
2004		54,380	8.80%	4th	11 / 120	3	–	Government
2008	István Pásztor	77,390	7.60%	4th	9 / 120	2	MK	Government
2012		62,275	6.47%	6th	7 / 120	2	–	Government
2016		47,034	5.03%	7th	6 / 120	1	–	Government
2020		75,218	9.29%	3rd	11 / 120	5	–	Government
2023	Bálint Pásztor	63,721	6.68%	3rd	9 / 120	2	–	Government

Positions held

Major positions held by Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians members:

President of the Assembly of Vojvodina	Years
Sándor Egeresi	2008–2012
István Pásztor	2012–2023

See also

• Hungarian Coalition
• Hungarian Regional Autonomy

References

1. "U Srbiji milion i po članova partija, neki imaju i po pet članskih knjižica" (in Serbian). Blic. 29 January 2015.
2. "Lik i delo: Jožef Kasa" (in Serbian). Vreme. 18 February 2010.
3. "Izbori 1997: Bojkot dela opozicije, Šešelj i Vučić na vlasti sa socijalistima" (in Serbian). N1. 3 March 2020.
4. "10 March 2020" (in Serbian). N1. 10 March 2020.
5. "Konačni rezultati izbora 2003. godine" (in Serbian). B92. 2003.
6. "Izbori za narodne poslanike Narodne skupštine Republike Srbije, 21. januar 2007. godine - mandati" (in Serbian). Republički zavod za statistiku. 2007.
7. "Ethnic Hungarian party expels honorary president". B92. 11 February 2010. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011.
8. "Izbori za narodne poslanike Narodne Skupštine Republike Srbije" (PDF) (in Serbian). Republički zavod za statistiku. 11 May 2008.
9. Hrvatska riječ Archived 7 September 2012 at archive.today Davor Bašić Palković: Formirana nova gradska vlast u Subotici, 18. srpnja 2008. (in Croatian)
10. "Izbori 2012: Rezultati i postizborna trgovina" (in Serbian). Vreme. 14 May 2012.
11. "The Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians Has a New President", Hungary Today, 4 March 2024, accessed 17 April 2024.
12. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2020). "Vojvodina/Serbia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
13. Novaković, Igor (2013). Serbia and Hungary: Political and economic perspectives. Belgrade: Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
14. Losoncz, Alpár (24 May 2015). "Nem a liberalizmus tizedeli a kisebbségi magyarokat". napló.org (in Hungarian). Retrieved 19 March 2019.
15. Florian Bieber; Jenni Winterhagen (2006). Ethnic Violence in Vojvodina: Glitch or Harbinger of Conflicts to Come? (PDF). European Centre for Minority Issues. p. 29.
16. Kleibrink, Alexander (2015). Political elites and decentralization reforms in the post-socialist Balkans : regional patronage networks in Serbia and Croatia. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire. ISBN 978-1-137-49572-3. OCLC 915080240.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
17. Schakel, Arjan (2017). Regional and national elections in Eastern Europe: territoriality of the vote in ten countries. Arjan H. Schakel. London. p. 233. ISBN 978-1-137-51787-6. OCLC 972900295.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
18. Jansen, Thomas; Van Hecke, Steven (2011). At Europe's Service: The Origins and Evolution of the European People's Party. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 384. ISBN 9783642194146.
19. Novaković, Igor (November 2019). Overcoming the legacies of the past together: Serbia and Hungary. Institute for European Policy; Slovak Foreign Policy Association; Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary; European Movement of Serbia; WiseEuropa.
20. Živanović, Maja (8 April 2019). "Fidesz's Serbian Sister-Party to Campaign for Hungary's Orban". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
21. "Ismét Kasza József a VMSZ elnöke". www.origo.hu (in Hungarian). 31 December 1899. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
22. "EPP Political Assembly tackles migration, prepares EPP Congress, and upgrades two member parties". Brussels: European People's Party. 2 September 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
23. "Ms Elvira KOVÁCS (Serbia, EPP/CD)". Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Retrieved 29 July 2023.

External links

• Official website