European elections in Hungary 2004

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2004 European elections
(in %)
 %
50
40
30th
20th
10
0
47.40
34.30
7.74
5.33
2.35
1.83
1.05
Distribution of seats
9
2
1
12
9 2 1 12 
A total of 24 seats

The 2004 European elections in Hungary took place on June 13, 2004. It was part of the 2004 European elections , the first in Hungary after EU enlargement in the same year. In Hungary, 24 of the 732 seats in the European Parliament were awarded. The election, which was heavily influenced by domestic political issues, ended in victory for the conservative opposition from Fidesz and MDF .

Electoral system

The whole territory of Hungary formed an electoral district . The seats were allocated by proportional representation, with each voter having one vote. The votes were converted into a total of 24 mandates for the national lists using the D'Hondt process . The candidates were chosen in the order in which they were originally drawn from their lists (no preferential votes). There was a 5% threshold .

Under the Electoral Law of 2003, only officially registered political parties could vote. The lists could consist of one or more parties and had to show at least 20,000 supporters' signatures from citizens entitled to vote before the election. Only ten lists reached this number, of which the Hungarian Green Party ( Zöld Párt ) and the Rural Party ( Vidék Párt ) were not allowed to vote due to inconsistencies in the lists submitted.

Political run-up to the election

In the elections to the Hungarian parliament in 2002 , the MSZP received the most votes and, like from 1994 to 1998, formed a coalition with the liberal SZDSZ under Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy . The ruling right-wing conservative Fidesz of Victor Orban reached the list with the composite MDF though most seats, but could not prevent the third change of government is not in a row. The election campaign has been described as the most polarized in Hungarian history. The local elections in the same year also ended in defeat for Fidesz.

A referendum decided on Hungary's accession to the European Union in 2003 , in which just under 84% of voters voted in favor, with a turnout of 45.6%. This was the lowest turnout of all referendums that decided on accession in the new member states. While the center-left parties were more in favor of joining the EU, the conservative spectrum was seen as more Eurosceptic. Nevertheless, only the right-wing extremist MIÉP refused to join.

Fidesz therefore declared the European elections to be the first vote on Medgyessy's government policy since 2002, so that the election campaign was almost exclusively dominated by domestic issues. The party hoped that a clear victory could lead to early parliamentary elections. The Conservatives criticized the government's financial policy and its attitude towards the ethnic Hungarians in Transylvania . On the other hand, the socialists highlighted the positive economic development during their reign and projects such as the public sector wage increase. Towards the end of the election campaign, however, both parties carried out clearly aggressive campaigns, often attacking each other and highlighting or assuming unfair practices of the other ( negative campaigning ).

The smaller parties emphasized their independence: the SZDSZ vis-à-vis the socialist coalition partner and the MDF vis-à-vis Fidesz, with whom the party had entered the parliamentary election two years earlier on a joint list. The Free Democrats around Budapest's Mayor Gábor Demszky criticized the two major parties for their negative campaigning. MDF chairman Ibolya Dávid opposed the Orbán when she argued that the outcome of the European elections did not determine the legitimacy of the 2002 elected government.

Result

Political party be right percent Seats Group in the EU Parliament
Fidesz 1,457,750 47.40 12 EPP-ED
MSZP 1,054,921 34.30 9 SOZ
SZDSZ 237.908 7.74 2 ALDE
MDF 164.025 5.33 1 EPP-ED
MIÉP 72.203 2.35 -
Munkáspárt 56,221 1.83 -
MNSZ 20,226 0.66 -
SZDP 12,196 0.40 -

Of 8,046,247 eligible voters, 3,097,657 voted, which corresponds to a turnout of 38.50%. 20,729 votes (0.67%) were invalid.

Elected MPs

Fidesz
  1. Pál Schmitt
  2. József Szájer
  3. László Surján
  4. György Schöpflin
  5. Etelka Barsi-Pataky
  6. András Gyürk
  7. Zsolt Becsey
  8. Lívia Járóka
  9. Béla Glattfelder
  10. Csaba Őry
  11. István Pálfi
  12. Kinga Gál
MSZP
  1. Katalin Lévai
  2. Gábor Harangozó
  3. Magda Kósa Kovács
  4. Csaba Tabajdi
  5. Zita Gurmai
  6. Szabolcs Fazakas
  7. Edit Herczog
  8. Alexandra Dobolyi
  9. Gyula Hegyi
SZDSZ
  1. Gábor Demszky
  2. István Szent-Iványi
MDF
  1. Péter Olajos

Source: European Parliament

literature

  • Barnabas Racz: Hungarian Political Parties and the 2004 European Parliamentary Elections . In: East European Quarterly . tape 40 , no. 2 , June 2006, ISSN  0012-8449 , p. 203-220 .
  • Irena Bačlija and Kenneth Ka-lok Chan: First time in the European Parliament Elections: Central and Eastern Europe in the 2004 European Parliament Elections . In: Družboslovne razprave . tape 46/47 , no. 20 , 2006, ISSN  0352-3608 , p. 109–131 ( uni-lj.si [PDF; accessed on November 18, 2018]).
  • Jürgen Dieringer : The 2004 EP Elections in Hungary: Predominance of Domestic Factors . In: Rudolf Hrbek (Ed.): European Parliament elections 2004 in the ten new EU member states . Nomos, Baden-Baden 2005, ISBN 3-8329-1446-3 , p. 91-106 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Official election results on the website of the state election office (accessed on November 18, 2018)
  2. ↑ a b Irena Bačlija and Kenneth Chan Ka-lok: First time in the European Parliament Elections: Central and Eastern Europe in the 2004 European Parliament Elections . In: Družboslovne razprave . tape 46/47 , no. 20 , 2006, ISSN  0352-3608 , p. 109–131 ( uni-lj.si [PDF; accessed on November 18, 2018]).
  3. ^ A b c d Barnabas Racz: Hungarian Political Parties and the 2004 European Parliamentary Elections . In: East European Quarterly . tape 40 , no. 2 , June 2006, ISSN  0012-8449 , p. 203-220 .
  4. ↑ Florian Grotz and László Hubai: Hungary . In: Dieter Nohlen and Philip Stöver (eds.): Elections in Europe: a data handbook . Nomos, Baden-Baden 2010, ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7 , p. 873-946 .
  5. ^ Hungary - Elected Candidates. In: European elections 2004. Archived from the original on March 20, 2005 ; accessed on November 18, 2018 .