Leader of the Opposition (Hungary)

The Leader of the Opposition (Hungarian: Az ellenzék vezetője) is an unofficial title held by the leader of the largest party not within the government.

Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent
Ferenc Gyurcsány
since 3 April 2022
Term lengthWhile leader of the largest party not in government
SalaryHUF 74,400,000 annually[1]
USD 251,075 annually
Politics of Hungary
Constitution
Executive
Parliament
Recent elections
Budapest
Mayor of Budapest
Gergely Karácsony
Mayoral elections
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2019
Administrative divisions
Foreign relations

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.

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.[2] 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 Gyula Molnár was the Leader of the Opposition from 25 June 2016 to 2018. After Jobbik became the largest opposition party in the 2018 parliamentary election, the unofficial title belonged to Tamás Sneider, from 2018 to 2020 when he was replaced at Jobbik's Congress by Péter Jakab who has held the post until the next election, when the Democratic Coalition became the largest opposition party.

List of leaders of the Opposition
No. Leader Political Party Term of office
1 János Kis SZDSZ 1990–1991
2 Péter Tölgyessy SZDSZ 1991–1992
3 Iván Pető SZDSZ 1992–1994
4 Lajos Für MDF 1994–1996
5 József Torgyán FKgP 1996–1997
6 Viktor Orbán Fidesz 1997–1998
7 Gyula Horn MSZP 1998
8 László Kovács MSZP 1998–2002
9 Zoltán Pokorni Fidesz 2002
10 János Áder Fidesz 2002–2003
(6) Viktor Orbán Fidesz 2003–2010
11 Ildikó Lendvai MSZP 2010
12 Attila Mesterházy MSZP 2010–2014
— László Botka[3] MSZP 2014
13 József Tóbiás MSZP 2014–2016
14 Gyula Molnár MSZP 2016–2018
15 Tamás Sneider Jobbik 2018–2020
16 Péter Jakab Jobbik 2020–2022
17 Ferenc Gyurcsány Democratic Coalition 2022–present

See also

References
  1. "Hatmilliós Jakab: Ennyibe kerül havonta Jakab Péter az adófizetőknek".
  2. Bodan Todosijević The Hungarian Voter: Left–Right Dimension as a Clue to Policy Preferences in International Political Science Review (2004), Vol 25, No. 4, p. 421
  3. Acting Leader of the Opposition
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