Parliamentary elections
Parliamentary elections
Hungary’s Fundamental Law declares that Hungary is an independent, democratic state under the rule of law, in which all public power derives from the people. The people exercise their power through their elected representatives, or – in exceptional cases – directly (by means of a referendum).
The principal representative body of the Hungarian people is the National Assembly, whose most important function is legislation. The National Assembly is composed of Members of the Parliament (MPs) elected by the voters for a four-year term in the parliamentary elections.
The general election of Members of the Parliament – except where when elections are held due to the dissolution of the National Assembly – must be held in April or May of the fourth year following the previous parliamentary election. The exact date of the election is set by the President of Hungary. The election must be scheduled so that the day of voting falls between the 70th and 90th day after the date on which the election is called. Voting must take place on a Sunday. The election day may not fall on a public holiday under the Labour Code, nor on Easter Sunday or Pentecost Sunday.
The Hungarian National Assembly consists of 199 Members, of whom 106 are elected in single-member constituencies and 93 from national lists (the composition of the National Assembly formed in 2022 can be viewed here).
Voters with a residence in Hungary have two votes in parliamentary elections. One vote is cast for a candidate in their single-member constituency, and the other for a party list or a nationality list. Voters without a residence in Hungary have one vote, which they may cast by post, and this vote is for a party list only.
Right to vote
Members of Parliament are elected by voters on the basis of universal and equal suffrage, through direct and secret voting.
- Universality of suffrage means that every adult citizen has the right to vote, except for natural grounds for exclusion (see active and passive suffrage).
- Equality of suffrage means that each person entitled to vote has a vote of equal value.
- Direct voting means that voters cast their ballots directly for the candidates.
- Secret voting ensures that voters may cast their votes confidentially, without their choices being made public.
Information on the conditions of active (the right to vote) and passive (the right to stand as a candidate) suffrage can be found here. Information for parties and nominating organisations on standing candidates and lists is available here.
Electoral system
Hungary elects its Members of Parliament in a single-round mixed electoral system.
Single-member constituencies
The territory of the country is divided into 106 single-member constituencies. In each constituency, the candidate who receives the highest number of valid votes is elected to the National Assembly.
National lists
A total of 93 seats are allocated from national lists. Lists may be submitted by political parties and by nationality representation bodies. Seats are allocated according to the share of votes cast for nationality and party lists, as well as the surplus votes originating from single-member constituencies.
A voter with a residence in Hungary may cast one vote for a candidate in a single-member constituency and one for a party list. If the voter is registered as a minority voter, he / she may vote for the list of his / her nationality instead of a party list.
A voter without a residence in Hungary may cast one vote for a party list.
Nomination of candidates
- Single-member constituency: A candidate may stand if they collect at least 500 recommendations from voters.
- Party List: A party may submit a list if it has fielded candidates independently in at least 71 single-member constituencies across at least fourteen counties and the capital.
- Nationality List: A nationality list may be submitted by a nationality self-government body that collects recommendations from at least 1% of the nationality’s registered voters, but no more than 1,500 recommendations.
A person may be a candidate simultaneously in one single-member constituency and on one national list. A candidate nominated by a party in a single-member constituency may only appear on that same party’s list; a jointly nominated candidate may only appear on the joint list of the nominating parties. If a candidate wins a seat in a single-member constituency, they must be removed from the national list.
Nationality lists may be submitted by the nationality self-government bodies. Nationality self-government bodies may not submit joint nationality lists.
Allocation of seats
Single-member constituencies
Seats are allocated according to the first-past-the-post system: the candidate receiving the most valid votes in the constituency becomes a Member of the National Assembly.
National lists
A party list does not receive any seats if it does not obtain at least 5% of the total valid votes cast for party and nationality lists. (In the case of a joint list of two parties, the threshold is 10%; for joint lists of more than two parties, the electoral threshold is 15%.)
Among the national lists, the nationalities are allocated seats first, provided they reach the preferential quota.
The remaining seats are allocated using the d’Hondt method. The d’Hondt matrix is a formula developed by Belgian mathematician Victor d’Hondt and is used in many countries to convert votes into seats. It involves dividing each list’s votes by 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., ordering the resulting numbers in descending order, and allocating seats one by one according to the highest numbers until all seats are filled. The d’Hondt matrix used in the 2022 parliamentary elections can be viewed here in Hungarian.
Candidates are awarded seats in the order in which they appear on the list.
Each party list receives seats based on the votes cast for it and on its surplus votes originating from single-member constituencies. Surplus votes include votes cast for unsuccessful constituency candidates, and, for the winning candidate, the number of votes exceeding the votes of the second-placed candidate plus one.
Parliamentary representation of nationalities
A key element of the electoral system is ensuring parliamentary representation for nationalities. Nationality self-government bodies may submit nationality lists, separate from party lists. Voters registered as belonging to a nationality may vote for these lists.
Nationality lists may obtain seats by meeting the preferential quota, which is one-quarter of the number of votes required to gain a seat from the national list. If the vote count for a nationality list reaches the preferential quota, the nationality obtains a parliamentary seat. The total number of the 93 national list seats is then reduced by the number of preferential nationality seats allocated.
Nationality spokesperson
If a nationality list is submitted but does not obtain a mandate, the lead candidate on the list becomes the nationality spokesperson in Parliament.
Vacant seats
If the seat of a member elected in a single-member constituency becomes vacant, a by-election must be held. If the MP was elected as the candidate of a party and a by-election cannot be held, the seat is filled by a candidate nominated by the party – or, in the case of a joint list, by the nominating parties – from among the candidates on the national list; if none is nominated, the next candidate on the list obtains the seat.
If the mandate of a member elected from a national list becomes vacant, the seat is filled – from among the candidates originally included on the national list – by the party (or, in the case of a joint list, the nominating parties) or the national self-government body. If no candidate is nominated, the next candidate on the list obtains the seat.
If there are no further candidates on the national list, the seat remains unoccupied.
If the term of a nationality spokesperson ends, the spokesperson is replaced by a candidate nominated by the nationality self-government body from among those originally on the list; if no candidate is available, the nationality remains unrepresented by a spokesperson until the National Assembly’s term ends.