According to the Fundamental Law, general elections for members of the National Assembly shall be held in April or May of the fourth year following the election of the previous National Assembly, except in the case of elections due to the dissolution or disbandment of the National Assembly. The election must be scheduled so that the date of the election in Hungary falls between the 70th and 90th day following the date of the announcement. The vote must be held on a Sunday. The date of the election may not fall on a public holiday under the Labor Code, nor on Easter Sunday or Pentecost Sunday.

The specific date of the election shall be set by the President of the Republic.

The Hungarian National Assembly consists of 199 members, 106 of whom are elected in individual constituencies and 93 on party lists.

Voters residing in Hungary have two votes in the parliamentary elections. They can cast one vote for a candidate in a single-member constituency and the other for a party list or a national minority list. Voters who do not reside in Hungary have one party list vote, which they can cast by mail.

Electoral system

In Hungary,members of the National Assembly are elected in a single-round, mixed electoral system.

Single-member constituencies: the country is divided into 106 single-member constituencies. The candidate who receives the most votes in each constituency becomes a member of the National Assembly.

National list: 93 seats are allocated from the list. Lists may be drawn up by political parties and national minority self-governments. In this case, seats are allocated in proportion to the votes cast for national minority and party lists, as well as the fractional votes from single-member constituencies.

Members of the National Assembly are elected by voters on the basis of universal and equal suffrage, by direct and secret ballot.

Voters residing in Hungary may vote for an individual candidate in their constituency and for a party list. If a voter residing in Hungary is listed in the national minority register, they may vote for the list of their own nationality instead of a party list.

Voters not residing in Hungary may vote for a party list.

Nomination

• In single-member constituencies, anyone who collects at least 500 recommendations from voters can be nominated.
• A party list can be drawn up by an organization that has nominated candidates in at least 9 counties and the capital, in a total of 27 single-member constituencies.
• A national minority list may be drawn up by the national minority self-government, which collects the recommendations of at least 1% of national minority voters, but no more than 1,500 recommendations.

A person may be nominated simultaneously in a single-member constituency and on a national list. An individual candidate nominated by a party may only be a list candidate on the list of that party (and an individual candidate nominated by several parties may only be a list candidate on the joint list of those parties). If a candidate wins a seat in a single-member constituency, they must be removed from the national list.

National minority lists may be drawn up by national minority self-governments. In order to draw up a national minority list, the recommendation of at least one percent of national minority voters (but no more than 1,500 recommendations) is required. Two or more national minority self-governments may not draw up a joint national minority list.

Allocation of seats

Single-member constituencies are based on the relative majority principle, according to which the candidate who receives the most valid votes in the constituency becomes a member of the National Assembly.

On the national list, a party list cannot obtain a mandate if it does not receive at least 5% of the total votes cast for party lists and national minority lists. (In the case of a joint list, 10% of valid votes, and in the case of a list submitted by more than two parties, 15% - electoral threshold). Of the national lists, national minorities are the first to obtain seats, provided they have obtained the number of votes required by the preferential quota. The remaining seats are then allocated using the d'Hondt method. Candidates are allocated seats in the order in which they appear on the list.

The individual party lists are allocated seats in proportion to the votes cast for them and the fractional votes generated in the single-member constituency elections. Fractional votes are defined as votes cast for party candidates in single-member constituencies who did not win a seat, as well as votes cast for candidates who won an individual seat in excess of the number of votes required for victory.

Participation of national minorities in the National Assembly

An important element of the electoral system is ensuring the parliamentary representation of national minorities in the country. To this end, national minority self-governments may draw up national minority lists separate from party lists. Voters who are registered as members of a national minority may vote for national minority lists. National minority lists can obtain seats according to a preferential quota (a quarter of the votes required to obtain a seat on the list). If the number of votes cast for a national minority list reaches the preferential quota, the representatives of that national minority group in obtain a seat in the National Assembly. The 93 seats available on the national list must be reduced by the number of preferential seats allocated.

National minority spokesperson: a national minority group that has submitted a national minority list but has not obtained any seats is represented in the National Assembly by the person at the top of the list as a national minority spokesperson.

Vacant mandate

In the event of the termination of a single-member constituency representative's mandate, a by-election shall be called.

In the event of the termination of a mandate obtained on a national or national minority list, the mandate shall be obtained by the candidate originally included on the list and nominated by the party or the national minority self-government. If the organization in question does not nominate anyone from its list, the mandate shall be obtained by the next candidate on the national list.