Leader of the Opposition (Hungary)

For the Leader of the Opposition in other parliamentary systems, see Leader of the Opposition.

Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent Gyula Molnár since 25 June 2016
Term length	While leader of the largest political party not in government

The Opposition (Hungarian: Ellenzék) in Hungary is the body of political parties represented in the parliament which are not a part of the government supported by the parliamentary majority.

The Leader of the Opposition (Hungarian: Az ellenzék vezére) is the unofficial title held by the leader of the largest party of the opposition.

History

The Leader of the Opposition is normally the leader of the largest party not within the government, which is usually the second largest political party in the National Assembly.

Following the first democratic election in 1990 after the end of communism, Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) suffered a close defeat, thus becoming the leading opposition force in the parliament. After the fall of the conservative government at the following 1994 parliamentary election, SZDSZ, the second largest party, surprised many by entering into a coalition with the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), which achieved a remarkable revival, winning an overall majority of 209 seats out of 386. Thus Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), only with 38 MPs became the largest opposition party, while the government had a two-thirds majority.

On 4 March 1996, 15 MPs left MDF and formed Hungarian Democratic People's Party (MDNP), as a result agrarian right-wing Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party (FKgP) became the largest opposition party. By 1997, several parliamentarians had joined the Fidesz, mainly from the disintegrating Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP). The Fidesz became the main challenger to the socialist-liberal cabinet.

From 1998 until 2010, there was a de facto two-party system in Hungary. MSZP suffered a heavy defeat in the 2010 election (won by Fidesz with a two-thirds majority), gaining only 19,3% of the votes, and 59 seats in the parliament, nevertheless the Socialists were able to maintain their leading role in the opposition, while Hungarian politics became a dominant-party system. The 2014 parliamentary election confirmed this position. Socialist Party Chairman Gyula Molnár has been the Leader of the Opposition since 25 June 2016.

List of leaders of the Opposition

No.	Leader		Political Party	Term of office
style="background: Template:Alliance of Free Democrats/meta/color; color:white;" | 1		János Kis	SZDSZ	1990–1991
style="background: Template:Alliance of Free Democrats/meta/color; color:white;" | 2		Péter Tölgyessy	SZDSZ	1991–1992
style="background: Template:Alliance of Free Democrats/meta/color; color:white;" | 3		Iván Pető	SZDSZ	1992–1994
style="background: Template:Hungarian Democratic Forum/meta/color; color:white;" | 4		Lajos Für	MDF	1994–1996
style="background:Template:Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party/meta/color; color:white;" | 5		József Torgyán	FKgP	1996–1997
style="background:Template:Fidesz/meta/color; color:white;" | 6		Viktor Orbán	Fidesz	1997–1998
style="background:Template:Hungarian Socialist Party/meta/color; color:white;" | 7		Gyula Horn	MSZP	1998
style="background:Template:Hungarian Socialist Party/meta/color; color:white;" | 8		László Kovács	MSZP	1998–2002
style="background:Template:Fidesz/meta/color; color:white;" | 9		Zoltán Pokorni	Fidesz	2002
style="background:Template:Fidesz/meta/color; color:white;" | 10		János Áder	Fidesz	2002–2003
style="background:Template:Fidesz/meta/color; color:white;" | (6)		Viktor Orbán	Fidesz	2003–2010
style="background:Template:Hungarian Socialist Party/meta/color; color:white;" | 11		Ildikó Lendvai	MSZP	2010
style="background:Template:Hungarian Socialist Party/meta/color; color:white;" | 12		Attila Mesterházy	MSZP	2010–2014
style="background:Template:Hungarian Socialist Party/meta/color; color:white;" | —		László Botka	MSZP	2014
style="background:Template:Hungarian Socialist Party/meta/color; color:white;" | 13		József Tóbiás	MSZP	2014–2016
style="background:Template:Hungarian Socialist Party/meta/color; color:white;" | 14		Gyula Molnár	MSZP	2016–present

See also

• Politics of Hungary