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Hungarian parliamentary election, 2010

← 2006 11 and 25 April 2010 2014 →
Members elected →
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 Party Fidesz–KDNP MSZP Leader since 17 May 2003 10 July 2010 Last election 164 seats, 42.03% 192 seats, 43.21% Seats won 263 / 386 Fidesz 227, KDNP 36 59 / 386 Seat change 99 133 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 25 November 2006 2009 Last election 0 seats, 2.20% – Seats won 47 / 386 16 / 386 Seat change 47 New party Popular vote 855,436 383,876 Percentage 16.67% 7.48% Swing 14.47% –
Map showing winning parties   seats won by Fidesz-KDNP (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 (list) 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 2018 Presidential: 2010 2012 2017
Administrative divisions Districts Counties Regions Subregions
Foreign relations
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v t e

Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 11 and 25 April 2010 to choose MPs for the National Assembly.^[1] 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.^[2] The electoral law does not allow all adult citizens to stand for being elected unless they can validate 500 signatures of other citizens supporting their candidacy.

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.^[3] 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%.^[4][5]

Opinion polls

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...."^[28][29] 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]} 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".^[30] 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.^{[original research?]} 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.^[31]

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.^[32][33] According to Ékes, the demonstrations would harm youngsters, whose school season was to start on the same day.^{[clarification needed][34]}

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^[35] 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.

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)

Parties				Votes				Seats
				Regional		District (round 1)		Regional	District (round 1+2)	National	Total
				#	%	#	%				#	±
	Fidesz–KDNP		Fidesz	2,703,857	52.7	2,729,327	53.4	87	173	3	227	86
			KDNP								36	13
	Hungarian Socialist Party			989,609	19.3	1,087,097	21.3	28	2	29	59	131
	Jobbik			854,745	16.7	835,841	16.4	26	0	21	47	47
	Politics Can Be Different			382,991	7.5	258,078	5.1	5	0	11	16	16
	Hungarian Democratic Forum			136,695	2.7	72,695	1.4	0	0	0	0	11
	Civil Movement			45,863	0.9	34,938	0.7	0	0	0	0	New
	Hungarian Communist Workers' Party			5,606	0.1	5,668	0.1	0	0	0	0	0
	Parties with less than 0.1% of the vote			8,135	0.2	49,634	1.0	0	0	0	0
	Independents			0	0.0	33,702	0.7	0	1	0	1	1
Totals (Turnout 64.4%)				5,127,501	100.0	5,107,471	100.0	146	176	64	386	0

Turnout

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.^[37]

References

External links

• NSD - European Election Database - Hungary