Fidesz
- "Hungarian Civic Party" redirects here. For the political party in Romania, see Hungarian Civic Party (Romania).
| Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Union Fidesz - Magyar Polgári Szövetség |
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|---|---|
 |
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| President | Viktor Orbán |
| Founded | 30 March 1988 |
| Headquarters | 1088 Budapest, VIII. Szentkirályi Street 18. |
| Ideology | Conservatism National conservatism123 |
| Political position | Center-right45678 to right-wing91011 |
| International affiliation | Liberal International (1992 - 2000), International Democrat Union, Centrist Democrat International |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament group | European People's Party |
| Official colours | Orange |
| National Assembly |
227 / 386
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| European Parliament |
13 / 22
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| Website | |
| http://www.fidesz.hu/ | |
| Politics of Hungary Political parties Elections |
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The Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈfidɛs]; in full, Hungarian: Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség) is a major conservative party in Hungary. At the 2010 election in Hungary, Fidesz-Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP)12 won a two-thirds majority of seats by gaining 52% of the votes, with Fidesz winning 227 seats and KDNP winning 36. Fidesz is a member of the European People's Party (EPP).
Contents |
History
The party was founded in 1988, named simply Fidesz (Fiatal Demokraták Szövetsége, Alliance of Young Democrats), originally as a youthful libertarian, anti-communist party. Fidesz was founded by young democrats, mainly students, who were persecuted by the communist party and had to meet in small, clandestine groups. The movement became a major force in many areas of modern Hungarian history. The membership had an upper age limit of 35 years (this requirement was abolished at the 1993 congress).
In 1989 Fidesz won the Rafto Prize. The Hungarian youth opposition movement was represented by one of its leaders, Dr Péter Molnár, who became a Member of Parliament in Hungary. In 1992 Fidesz joined the Liberal International.13
Fidesz received 8.95% (1990), 7.02% (1994) and 29.48% (1998).
After its disappointing result in the 1994 elections, Fidesz changed its political position from liberal to conservative.113 In 1995, it added "Hungarian Civic Party" (Magyar Polgári Párt) to its shortened name. The conservative turn caused a severe split in the membership. Péter Molnár left the party, as well as Gábor Fodor and Klára Ungár, who joined the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats.
Fidesz gained power in 1998 under leader and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who governed Hungary in coalition with the smaller Hungarian Democratic Forum and the Independent Smallholders' Party. In 2000, Fidesz joined the European People's Party and had its membership in the Liberal International terminated.13
Fidesz narrowly lost the 2002 elections to the Hungarian Socialist Party, by 41.07% to the Socialists' 42.05%. Fidesz had 169 members of the Hungarian National Assembly, out of a total of 386. Following the defeat, the municipal elections in October saw huge Fidesz losses.
In the spring of 2003, Fidesz took its current name, "Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union".13
It was the most successful party in the 2004 European Parliamentary Elections: it won 47.4% of the vote and 12 of its candidates were elected as Members of the Eurpoean Parliament (MEPs), including Lívia Járóka, the second Roma MEP.
Some consideredcitation needed the election of Dr. László Sólyom as the new President of Hungary as the most recent success of the party. He was endorsed by Védegylet, an NGO including people from the whole political spectrum. His activity does not entirely overlap with the conservative ideals and he championed for elements of both political wings with a selective, but conscious choice of values.14
In 2005 Fidesz and the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) formed an alliance for the 2006 elections. Despite winning 42.0% of the list votes and 164 representatives out of 386 in National Assembly, they were beaten by the socialist and liberal coalition of Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ).
On October 1, 2006, Fidesz won the municipal elections, which counterbalanced the MSZP-led government's power to some extent. Fidesz won 15 of 23 mayoralties in Hungary's largest cities—although its candidate narrowly lost the city of Budapest to a member of the Liberal Party—and majorities in 18 out of 20 regional assemblies.1516
In the 2009 European Parliament election, Fidesz won a landslide victory, gaining 56.36% of the vote and 14 of Hungary's 22 seats. This predicted a landslide in the 2010 parliamentary elections, where they won the outright majority in the first round on April 11, with the Fidesz-KDNP alliance winning 206 seats, including 119 individual seats. In the final result, they won 263 seats, of which 173 are individual seats.17 Fidesz holds 227 of these seats, giving it an outright majority in the National Assembly by itself.
Ideology
Currently Fidesz is considered a conservative party on social issues.
Youth
The Youth of Fidesz is the Fidesz Youth Section that was created as a section within the party gathering all party members below the age of 30. It was founded by the Fidesz congress and established in December 2005. The chairman of Fidesz Youth Section is Dániel Loppert. Fidesz Youth Section is member of European Democrat Students (EDS) and observer member in the Democrat Youth Community of Europe (DEMYC).
Electoral results
Results on the lists:
| Year | Result | Voters | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 8.95% | 439.481 | opposition |
| 1994 | 7.02% | 379.295 | opposition |
| 1998 | 28.18% | 1.263.522 | government |
| 2002 | 41.07% | 2.306.763 | opposition |
| 2006 | 42.03% | 2.272.979 | opposition |
| 2010 | 52.73% | 2.706.292 | government |
In 2002 the Fidesz list ran together with the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF). Before the 2006 elections MDF separated from the coalition, replaced by the KDNP in the alliance.
Single member constituencies voting consistently for Fidesz
The SMCs shown on the image have voted for Fidesz ever since 1998. SMCs with a paler hue of orange elected FKGP candidates in 1998, as part of a pact between the two parties.
In January 2010, László Kövér, head of the party's national board, told reporters the party was aiming at winning a two-thirds majority at the parliamentary elections in April. He noted that Fidesz had a realistic chance to win a landslide. Concerning the radical nationalist Jobbik party's gaining ground Kövér said it was a "lamentably negative" tendency, adding that it was rooted in the "disaster government" of the Socialist Party and its former liberal ally Free Democrats.18
Controversy
After winning 53% of the popular vote, which translated into 68% of the seats, Fidesz embarked on an extraordinary project of passing over 200 laws and revising the constitution. The new constitution has been widely criticized19 by the Venice Commission for Democracy 20 through Law of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament21 and the United States22 for gathering too much power in the hands of the ruling party, Fidesz, for limiting oversight of the new constitution by the Constitutional Court, and for removing democratic checks and balances in various areas, including the ordinary judiciary,23 supervision of elections and the media. Hungarians have taken to the streets protesting the actions the right wing government of Viktor Orbán, who has rejected appeals from European Commission President Jose Barroso and Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn; the European Commission has subsequently threatened punitive action against the Orbán government.24
References
- ^ a b Bakke, Elisabeth (2010), "Central and East European party systems since 1989", Central and Southeast European Politics Since 1989 (Cambridge University Press): p. 79, http://books.google.de/books?id=oFXdiS25N78C&pg=PA79&dq=fidesz+national+conservative&hl=de&ei=55XGTuj7FZDNswaJ6bDtBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CF0Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=fidesz%20national%20conservative&f=false, retrieved 17 November 2011
- ^ Verseck, Keno (28 April 2011). "Roma Defenseless against Extremist Vigilantes". Der Spiegel. http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,759586,00.html. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
- ^ Hockenos, Paul (16 April 2010). "Central Europe's rightward slide". Global Post. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/europe/100415/central-europes-rightward-slide. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
- ^ Center-right Fidesz party sweeps to victory in Hungary, CNN, 26 April 2010, http://articles.cnn.com/2010-04-26/world/hungary.election.results_1_fidesz-viktor-orban-socialist-party?_s=PM:WORLD, retrieved 1 December 2011
- ^ Fidesz wins Hungary election with strong mandate, Reuters, 11 April 2010, http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/04/12/us-hungary-election-idUSTRE63A1GE20100412, retrieved 1 December 2011
- ^ "Center-right Fidesz wins big in Hungary elections", Guardian, 12 April 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9027152, retrieved 1 December 2011
- ^ "Socialists in Hungary Are Ousted in Elections", New York Times, 25 April 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/world/europe/26hungary.html, retrieved 1 December 2011
- ^ "Hungary’s centre-right claims victory in polls", Financial Times, 11 April 2010, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/941f2112-4598-11df-9e46-00144feab49a.html#axzz1fFdNFrts, retrieved 1 December 2011
- ^ "Fidesz: The story so far", The Economist, 18 December 2010, http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2010/12/fidesz, retrieved 18 November 2011
- ^ Right-wing Fidesz win election by landslide, Radio France Internationale, 12 April 2010, http://www.english.rfi.fr/europe/20100412-right-wing-fidesz-win-election-landslide, retrieved 18 November 2011
- ^ Seres, Balint (12 April 2010), "Right-wing Fidesz party wins by landslide in Hungary elections", news.com.au, http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/right-wing-fidesz-party-wins-by-landslide-in-hungary-elections/story-e6frfku0-1225852566022, retrieved 18 November 2011
- ^ Fidesz had common regional and nationwide lists and had common candidates with KDNP in the 2010 election
- ^ a b c d Fidesz
- ^ (Hungarian) Sólyom politikaformáló erő akar lenni, Kern Tamás, Index.hu, August 22, 2005
- ^ "VoksCentrum - a választások univerzuma". Vokscentrum.hu. http://www.vokscentrum.hu/onkorm/elemzo.php?jny=hun&mszkod=860001&mitmut=polgmjv. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
- ^ "http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/10/03/2003330242". Taipeitimes.com. 2006-10-03. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/10/03/2003330242. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
- ^ "Országos Választási Iroda - 2010 Országgyűlési Választások" (in (Hungarian)). Valasztas.hu. 2010-05-03. http://www.valasztas.hu/hu/parval2010/354/354_0_index.html. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
- ^ By MTI. "Opposition Fidesz aims at two-thirds majority". Politics.hu. http://www.politics.hu/20100129/opposition-fidesz-aims-at-twothirds-majority. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
- ^ "Hungary's Constitutional Revolution," Kim Lane Scheppele, New York Times, December 19, 2011, http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/hungarys-constitutional-revolution/ Accessed Dec. 23, 2011.
- ^ "Opinion on the New Constitution of Hungary, 20 June 2011, "http://lapa.princeton.edu/hosteddocs/hungary/venice%20commission%20hungarian%20constitution.pdf Accessed Dec. 23, 2011
- ^ "European Parliament resolution of 5 July 2011 on the Revised Hungarian Constitution ," http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0315+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN Accessed Dec. 23, 2011
- ^ "A Second Look - Op-Ed by Ambassador Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis published in the Hungarian weekly Heti Válasz December 8, 2011," Embassy of the United States in Budapest, Hungary, December 8, 2011, http://hungary.usembassy.gov/kounalakis12082011.html Accessed Dec. 23, 2011.
- ^ http://esbalogh.typepad.com/hungarianspectrum/2011/12/the-end-of-the-independent-judiciary.html Accessed Dec. 23, 2011
- ^ "Hungary's Constitution: European Commission Threatens Punitive Actions And Appoints Task Force To Review New Laws". eGov monitor. 4 January, 2012. http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/45100. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fidesz |
- Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union Official website
- Fidesz page on the website of the European People's Party
- Speech delivered by Mr Viktor Orban at the 17th Congress of Fidesz upon his election as president of Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Union, 17 May 2003 (from Google's cache)
- The History of FIDESZ (from Google's cache)
- Hungary's PM calls confidence vote
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