2006 Hungarian parliamentary election

Hungarian parliamentary election, 2006

9 and 23 April 2006
All 386 seats to the Országgyűlés 194 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Ferenc Gyurcsány Viktor Orbán Party MSZP Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Union Last election 178 seats 188 seats (together with MDF) Seats won 190 164 Seat change 12 24 Popular vote 2,336,705 2,272,979 Percentage 43.21% 42.03% Swing 1.16% 0.96%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Gábor Kuncze Ibolya Dávid Party SZDSZ MDF Last election 20 – Seats won 20 11 Seat change 0 11 Popular vote 351,612 272,831 Percentage 6.50% 5.04% Swing 0.93% 5.04%
Map showing winning/leading parties in each Single Member Constituency
PM before election Ferenc Gyurcsány MSZP Elected PM Ferenc Gyurcsány MSZP

Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 9 April 2006, with a second round of voting in 110 of the 176 single member constituencies on 23 April. The Hungarian Socialist Party emerged as the largest party in the National Assembly with 186 of the 386 seats, and continued the coalition government with the Alliance of Free Democrats. It marked the first time a government had been re-elected since the end of Communist rule.

Election system

The unicameral, 386-member National Assembly (Országgyűlés), the highest organ of state authority, initiates and approves legislation sponsored by the prime minister. A party had to win at least 5% of the national vote to form a parliamentary faction. The National Assembly (Országgyűlés) had 386 members, elected for a four year term: 176 members in single-seat constituencies, 152 by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies (using territorial lists) and 58 members (using a national list) to realize proportional representation.

The election took over two days. On 9 April elections took place in every constituency, both single-seat and multi-seat. In order to get elected into a single-seat constituency, a candidate needs to receive more than 50% of the vote; in the 2006 elections, the victor received more than 50% of the vote in 66 of the 176 single-seat constituencies. There will be another election in the remaining 110 single-seat constituencies in the 2nd round, in which all but the top three candidates (and every candidate reaching 15%) from the 1st round are excluded. Usually parties form alliances between the two rounds and withdraw many of their 3rd place candidates and call for supporting the allied party so the winning candidate of the 2nd round will receive more than 50% of the vote. However, this process is not automatic; it is grounded by negotiations.

The multi-seat elections also took place during the first round of voting. 146 of the 152 seats were filled using proportional representation. The remaining 6 were added to the national list. The country was divided into 20 regions for the multi-seat elections with varying numbers of members per region. Where a party won more members in a regional than it merited, the surplus votes were deducted from the total it received in the second round. Correspondingly, a party that received fewer seats than it merited had the shortfall votes added to its total in the second round.

A further 58 (plus 6 more not elected from the single-seat constituencies in the first round) extra members were elected using a national list in order to achieve a more proportional result.

Before the election the parties needed to be registered by the National Electoral Office. After registation the parties had the right to collect references. Each candidate had to collect 750 references in their district. If one party collected the required number in two districts (in Budapest 8, Pest 5 and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén 3) in a county, then it could present a list in regional constituencies. If a party had at least seven regional lists, it could present a national compensation list. 17 March was the last day when a party could be registered and a list or a candidate could be registered. By 28 February, 49 parties had sought registration, and 45 were registered by the National Electoral Office.

Campaign

On 10 April the two parties of the governing coalition (Hungarian Socialist Party and Alliance of Free Democrats) announced their alliance for the second round. The Socialist Party withdrew three of their candidates in favour of the Alliance one, and the Alliance withdrew their remaining 55 candidates (all of which had finished third), and called on its voters to support the Socialists. The leaders of the two parties ran a common campaign between the two rounds.

The opposition was not united. The Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) which hit the 5% threshold contrary to the polls and expectations made it clear that they would not support Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party. Orbán tried to get their support by declaring that he resigned from Prime Minister candidacy, and sought a compromise candidate, but the MDF held to their independency; thus they did not withdraw their 3rd place candidates. However, some MDF candidates did not agree with this, and withdrew in favour of Fidesz.

Polls

Party	January	+/-	February	+/-	March
Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union	48%	-6.3%	41.7%	+2.5%	44.2%
Hungarian Socialist Party	42%	+0.1%	42.1%	+2.6%	44.7%
Alliance of Free Democrats	3%	+2.8%	5.8%	-1.2%	4.6%
Hungarian Democratic Forum	3%	+1.4%	4.4%	-0.7%	3.7%
Centre Party	2%	+0.8%	2.8%	-2.2%	0.6%
Hungarian Communist Workers' Party	1%	-0.2%	0.8%	-0.4%	0.4%
Hungarian Justice and Life Party – Jobbik (Movement for a Better Hungary) the Third Way	1%	+0.6%	1.6%	-0.2%	1.4%
Others	0%	+0.8%	0.8%	-0.4%	0.4%
Source: Gallup

Results

Party	SMCs			MMCs			National seats	Total seats	+/–
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
Fidesz-MPSZ-KDNP	2,269,241	42.0	68	2,272,979	42.0	69	27	164	–24
Hungarian Socialist Party	2,175,312	40.3	98	2,336,705	43.2	71	17	186	+8
Alliance of Free Democrats	340,746	6.3	3	351,612	6.5	4	11	18	–1
Hungarian Democratic Forum	238,566	4.4	0	272,831	5.0	2	9	11	+11
MSZP-SZDSZ	154,619	2.9	6	–	–	–	0	6	–
MIÉP–Jobbik Third Way Alliance of Parties	92,798	1.7	0	119,007	2.2	0	0	0	0
Fidesz-MPSZ-KDNP-MDF	34,109	0.6	0	–	–	–	0	0	–
Hungarian Communist Workers' Party	16,379	0.3	0	21,955	0.4	0	0	0	0
Centre Party	14,126	0.3	0	17,431	0.3	0	0	0	0
MDF-Solidarity for Szabolcs County	13,672	0.3	0	–	–	–	0	0	–
Association for Somogy	9,457	0.2	1	–	–	–	0	1	New
Forum of Gipsy Organisations in Hungary-Party of Roma Solidarity	7,165	0.1	0	4,459	0.1	0	0	0	New
Party of Greens	4,678	0.1	0	2,870	0.1	0	0	0	New
Christian Democratic Party - Solidarity of Christian Social Centre	2,906	0.1	0	2,362	0.1	0	0	0	New
Hungarian Countryside and Civic Party	2,716	0.0	0	2,789	0.1	0	0	0	New
Independent Smallholders Party	2,030	0.0	0	838	0.0	0	0	0	0
Live Chain for Hungary	2,002	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0	New
Workers' Party of Hungary 2006	1,489	0.0	0	556	0.0	0	0	0	New
Hungarian Pensioners Party-MDF	1,166	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0	–
Alliance of Hungarians for One Another	904	0.0	0	767	0.0	0	0	0	New
Party of Independent Smallholders and National Unity	742	0.0	0	889	0.0	0	0	0	New
Hungarian Pensioners Party	505	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0	0
Social Democratic Party	118	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0	0
Alliance of Green Democrats	95	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0	New
Létalap	80	0.0	0	–	–	–	0	0	New
Independents	18,054	0.3	0	–	–	–	–	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	51,402	–	–	47,302	–	–	–	–	–
Total	5,455,077	100	176	5,455,352	100	140	70	386	0
Registered voters/turnout	8,046,129	67.8	–	8,046,129	67.8	–	–	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

See also

• 2006 protests in Hungary
• Hungarian local elections, 2006

External links

• Országos Választási Iroda National Electoral Office
• Online coverage of the elections, with the latest poll results Index.hu Template:Hu icon