Politics of Hungary

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Politics of Hungary Magyarország politikája
Coat of arms of Hungary
Polity type	Unitary parliamentary republic Hybrid regime
Constitution	Constitution of Hungary (2011)
Formation	23 October 1989 (Third Hungarian Republic) 1 January 2012 (current constitution entered into force)
Legislative branch
Name	National Assembly
Type	Unicameral
Meeting place	Hungarian Parliament Building
Presiding officer	László Kövér, President of the National Assembly of Hungary
Appointer	Partially parallel, partially compensatory voting: 106 FPTP seats, 93 PR seats with 5% electoral threshold (D'Hondt method)
Executive branch
Head of state
Title	President
Currently	Tamás Sulyok
Appointer	National Assembly
Head of government
Title	Prime Minister
Currently	Viktor Orbán
Appointer	National Assembly
Cabinet
Name	Government of Hungary
Current cabinet	Fifth Orbán Government
Leader	Prime Minister
Deputy leader	Zsolt Semjén, Deputy Prime Minister
Appointer	National Assembly
Headquarters	Carmelite Monastery of Buda
Ministries	15
Judicial branch
Constitutional Court of Hungary
Chief judge	Barnabás Lenkovics
Seat	1015 Budapest, Donáti utca, 35-45.
Curia of Hungary
Chief judge	András Baka
Seat	1055 Budapest, Markó utca 16.

Politics of Hungary
Constitution 1949 Constitution Constitutional Court
Executive President (list) Tamás Sulyok 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) Momentum Movement (M) Everybody's Hungary Movement (MMM) Our Homeland Movement (MH)
Recent elections Parliamentary: 2014 2018 2022 Presidential: 2017 2022 2024 Local: 2014 2019 2024 European: 2014 2019 2024
Budapest Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony Mayoral elections 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2019
Administrative divisions Districts Counties Regions Subregions
Foreign relations Austria–Hungary relations China–Hungary relations France–Hungary relations Germany–Hungary relations Hungary–Italy relations Hungary–Russia relations Hungary–United Kingdom relations Hungary–United States relations Timeline of Hungary–European Union relations Politics of the European Union
Hungary portal Other countries
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The politics of Hungary takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic. The prime minister is the head of government of a pluriform multi-party system, while the president is the head of state and holds a largely ceremonial position. As of 2024, The country is considered "no longer a full democracy" by the EU, and is generally said to have democratically backslid since 2010 when the Fidesz–KDNP Party Alliance led by Viktor Orbán won a two-third parliamentary supermajority and adopted a new constitution of Hungary that have both remained in place since.^[1]

Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the parliament. The party system since the last elections has been dominated by the conservative Fidesz. The three larger oppositions are Democratic Coalition (DK), Momentum and Jobbik; there are also opposition parties with a small fraction in parliament (e.g. Politics Can Be Different). The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Hungary is an independent state, which has been a member of the European Union since 2004. Since 1989 Hungary has been a parliamentary republic. Legislative power is exercised by the unicameral National Assembly that consists of 199 members. Members of the National Assembly are elected for four years.

In the April 2022 election, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán won a fourth consecutive term in office. His party, Fidesz, secured another two-thirds majority in parliament.^[2]

Tamás Sulyok,
President since 2024

Viktor Orbán,
Prime Minister since 2010

The president of the republic, elected by the National Assembly every five years, has a largely ceremonial role, but they are nominally the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and their powers include the nomination of the prime minister, who is to be elected by a majority of the votes of the members of Parliament, based on the recommendation made by the president of the republic. If the president dies, resigns or is otherwise unable to carry out his duties, the speaker of the National Assembly becomes acting president.

Due to the Hungarian Constitution, based on the post-World War II Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, the prime minister has a leading role in the executive branch as he selects Cabinet ministers and has the exclusive right to dismiss them (similarly to the competences of the German federal chancellor). Each cabinet nominee appears before one or more parliamentary committees in consultative open hearings, survive a vote by the Parliament and must be formally approved by the president.

The laws are decided by the Diet of Hungary and later by the National Assembly.

In Communist Hungary, the executive branch of the Hungarian People's Republic was represented by the Council of Ministers.

The unicameral, 199-member National Assembly (Országgyűlés) is the highest organ of state authority and initiates and approves legislation sponsored by the prime minister. Its members are elected for a four-year term. The election threshold is 5%, but it only applies to the multi-seat constituencies and the compensation seats, not the single-seat constituencies.

Party		Party-list			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Fidesz-KDNP	3,060,706	54.13	48	2,823,419	52.80	87	135	+2
	United for Hungary	1,947,331	34.44	38	1,983,708	37.09	19	57	–8
	Our Homeland Movement	332,487	5.88	6	307,064	5.74	0	6	New
	Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party	185,052	3.27	0	126,648	2.37	0	0	0
	Solution Movement	58,929	1.04	0	64,341	1.20	0	0	New
	Party of Normal Life	39,720	0.70	0	31,495	0.59	0	0	New
	National Self-Government of Germans	24,630	0.44	1				1	0
	National Self-Government of Croats	1,760	0.03	0				0	0
	National Self-Government of Slovaks	1,208	0.02	0				0	0
	National Self-Government of Rusyns	645	0.01	0				0	0
	National Self-Government of Romanians	526	0.01	0				0	0
	National Self-Government of Serbs	418	0.01	0				0	0
	National Self-Government of Ukrainians	396	0.01	0				0	0
	National Self-Government of Poles	281	0.00	0				0	0
	National Self-Government of Greeks	232	0.00	0				0	0
	National Self-Government of Slovenes	219	0.00	0				0	0
	National Self-Government of Armenians	163	0.00	0				0	0
	National Self-Government of Bulgarians	157	0.00	0				0	0
	Leftist Alliance				8,678	0.16	0	0	New
	True Democratic Party				989	0.02	0	0	New
	Civic Response				521	0.01	0	0	New
	Our Party – IMA				326	0.01	0	0	New
	Party of Greens				208	0.00	0	0	New
	Democratic Organisation of the Hungarian Poor and Workers				177	0.00	0	0	New
	Hungarian Liberal Party				152	0.00	0	0	0
Total		5,654,860	100.00	93	5,347,726	100.00	106	199	0
Valid votes		5,654,860	99.00
Invalid/blank votes		57,065	1.00
Total votes		5,711,925	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		8,215,304	69.53
Source: National Electoral Commission,[3] National Electoral Commission

There are basically two main factions in the Hungarian political system, the right-wing FIDESZ-KDNP coalition, and the center-right to left-wing United for Hungary which consists of the following parties: DK, MSZP, Jobbik, Dialogue, LMP-Greens, Momentum. There are also associate parties and movements such as ÚVNP, Liberals, New Start, MMM movement, 99M movement. There are also some minor parties which are not part of these two coalitions such as the far-right Our Homeland Movement, and the joke party called Hungarian Two Tailed Dog Party.

A fifteen-member Constitutional Court has power to challenge legislation on grounds of unconstitutionality. This body was last filled in July 2010. Members are elected for a term of twelve years. Critics of the ruling coalition contend that since the Hungarian government filled the Constitutional Court with loyal judges, the institution mostly serves to legitimize government interests and has lost its original purpose as democratic defender of the rule of law and of human rights - as several reports of independent human rights NGOs, such as the Hungarian Helsinki Committee emphasize.^[6]

The president of the Supreme Court of Hungary (Curia) and the Hungarian civil and penal legal system he leads is fully independent of the Executive Branch.

The attorney general or chief prosecutor of Hungary is currently fully independent of the executive branch, but his status is actively debated.

Several ombudsman offices exist in Hungary to protect civil, minority, educational and ecological rights in non-judicial matters. They have held the authority to issue legally binding decisions since late 2003.

The central bank, the Hungarian National Bank was fully self-governing between 1990 and 2004, but new legislation gave certain appointment rights to the executive branch in November 2004 which is disputed before the Constitutional Court.

Hungary is divided in 19 counties (megyék, singular – megye), 23 urban counties* (megyei jogú városok, singular – megyei jogú város), and 1 capital city** (főváros); Bács-Kiskun, Baranya, Békés, Békéscsaba*, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Budapest**, Csongrád, Debrecen*, Dunaújváros*, Eger*, Érd*, Fejér, Győr*, Győr-Moson-Sopron, Hajdú-Bihar, Heves, Hódmezővásárhely*, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Kaposvár*, Kecskemét*, Komárom-Esztergom, Miskolc*, Nagykanizsa*, Nógrád, Nyíregyháza*, Pécs*, Pest, Salgótarján*, Somogy, Sopron*, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, Szeged*, Szekszárd*, Székesfehérvár*, Szolnok*, Szombathely*, Tatabánya*, Tolna, Vas, Veszprém, Veszprém*, Zala, Zalaegerszeg*

Hungary is a member of the ABEDA, Australia Group, BIS, CE, CEI, CERN, CEPI EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EU (member, as by 1 May 2004), FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, ITUC, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, SECI, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNOMIG, UNU, UPU, WCO, WFTU, Visegrád Group, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, and the Zangger Committee.

Note: with restructuring and reorganisation, this information may change even within a governmental period.

• Ministers without portfolio: János Süli, Andrea Bártfai-Mager, Katalin Novák