Fake party

In Hungarian politics, a fake party (Hungarian: kamupárt) or business party (Hungarian: bizniszpárt) is a political party registered for the sole purpose of receiving state funding. The phenomenon started during the campaign for the 2014 Hungarian parliamentary election, as a result of simplification of the political party registration resulting in significantly lower barriers for party registration.[1] During the 2014 election, an estimated 4 billion forint of subsidies were given to fake parties.[2] In order to receive access to the ballot, a party requires 500 valid signatures from voters, although fake parties often use forged signatures including ones also on the lists of Fidesz.[3][4] Most fake parties often receive low shares of the vote, although votes for fake parties reached 3% in 2014.[5]