Hungarian Democratic Forum

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Magyar Demokrata Fórum
Hungarian Democratic Forum
Parliament seats 0 of 386 ( Országgyűlés , 2010 )
EP Group EKR
Website www.mdf.hu

The Hungarian Democratic Forum (Hungarian Magyar Demokrata Fórum , MDF) was a Hungarian party with a conservative orientation that existed from 1987 to 2011.

It was founded in 1987 during the final phase of communist one-party rule in Hungary. After reunification it was one of the most important parties in the country, led the government from 1990 to 1994 and played a decisive role in shaping the country's transformation. As a people's party to the right of the center, it united liberal-conservative, Christian-democratic and Hungarian nationalist currents.

After several spin-offs, it steadily lost its influence from the second half of the 1990s. Between 1998 and 2004 she joined the Fidesz party as a smaller partner , which she replaced in her role as the most important right-of-center party. She has not been represented in the Hungarian Parliament since 2010. After the dissolution in 2011, the splinter party Democratic Community of Prosperity and Freedom ( Jólét és Szabadság Demokrata Közösség , JESZ) became her legal successor.

history

founding

The Hungarian Democratic Forum was established in autumn 1987. At that time, Hungary was under the one-party rule of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSzMP). The first meeting took place on September 3, 1987 in the southern Hungarian village of Lakitelek . The forum was initially more of a loose movement than a party in the true sense of the word.

Its founders were mostly Christian and nationally minded intellectuals. They stood in the ideological tradition of the népi-nemzeti (“popular” or “populist national”) movement, which has been opposed to the urbánus (“urbanistic”) direction in Hungary since the end of the 19th century (see Populists and Urban ). The forum was focused on national and cultural traditions and aimed for a radical - grassroots democratic policy as well as a " third way " between capitalism and communism. One issue that preoccupied the founding members was the worrying situation of the Magyar minority in neighboring Romania under Nicolae Ceaușescu .

The forum's opposition to communist rule was more moderate than that of the predominantly urban, pro-Western and liberal Bund Free Democrats (SzDSz) and the Bundestag Young Democrats (FiDeSz), which were founded a short time later. In contrast to this, the MDF sought an alliance with reform-oriented forces in the MSzMP, namely with the member of the Politburo Imre Pozsgay , who had participated in the meeting in Lakitelek and at the time General Secretary of the Patriotic Popular Front (HNF), the umbrella organization with the Communist Party-affiliated mass organizations , was. The forum was seen as a “constructive” opposition and not as a threat as the Free Democrats around János Kis .

Time of Change (1988/89)

At a second meeting in Lakitelek, a year after the first, the Hungarian Democratic Forum made its establishment public. This was made possible by the new Association and Assembly Act of September 1988. In order not to be eliminated by means of a “divide and rule” tactic, the various opposition groups joined forces in March 1989 to form the “opposition round table”. Together they took part in the tripartite national round table with the MSzMP and the mass organizations that began in June 1989.

The round table was unable to find a solution to all of the disputed issues. In particular, there was disagreement among opposition parties over whether direct presidential elections should be held before the end of the year. The MSzMP was transformed into the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSzP) in October 1989 and Imre Pozsgay was considered a promising candidate in direct presidential elections. Given its good relationship with Pozsgay, the MDF had nothing against this scenario. The Free Democrats and Fidesz, on the other hand, were determined to prevent a directly elected, socialist president, and therefore demanded a referendum, which was held in November 1989. The SzDSz violently attacked the MDF, calling it "friends of the communists" and "collaborators". The initiators of the referendum were of the opinion that parliamentary elections should be held first, whereas the MDF supported immediate presidential elections and therefore called for a “no” vote on this issue. Ultimately, the “yes” side prevailed with a narrow majority.

József Antall, party leader and prime minister (1990–93)

In October 1989 the party elected József Antall as its chairman. With Antall's replacement of the founding chairman Zoltán Bíró , the MDF increasingly moved away from the purely népi-nemzeti positions of the founding group. Antall came from a Christian Democratic line of tradition and opened the party to a wider political spectrum, including national liberal or liberal-conservative currents, and also to broader social classes, especially the nationally oriented and Christian middle class. It developed into a right-of-center people's party or even a catch-all party (“collective party”).

The MDF now mainly stood for a pro-European course, openness to a western lifestyle (more based on the German than the American model). A gentle, state-controlled transition to a market economy was preferred to so-called shock therapy , as used in other transition countries. Unlike the other democratic opposition parties, it campaigned for a reconciliation with the former communist state party, which also attracted former MSzMP members.

Government phase (1990-1994)

In March and April 1990, the MDF won the first free parliamentary elections after the end of communist rule in Hungary with 24.7% of the vote and 164 of the 386 seats. It formed a center-right coalition with the ideologically related Independent Party of Small Farmers (FKgP) and the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP). József Antall became Prime Minister. Since the constitution at that time still required a two-thirds majority for many laws, the MDF concluded an exchange deal with the liberal SzDSz, which had become the second strongest party: Árpád Göncz from the SzDSz was elected president, for the number of laws that only could be decided with a two-thirds majority, significantly reduced. This increased the government's stability and ability to act.

The MDF at that time was divided into two main internal flows. The more influential was Antall's government wing, which was characterized by pragmatic liberal conservatism, constitutionalism and legalism. The Antall government implemented important reforms that completed Hungary's transition from communist rule, such as the laws on local government, civil servant status and the redress for injustices of the old system. Traditional and religious values ​​and national ideas also played a greater role in the rhetoric of the MDF than in their conservative and Christian Democratic counterparts in Western European countries.

The right wing, radical populist and national wing within the party was characterized by pronounced anti-communism and anti-liberalism, with anti-Semitic, anti-Western and ultimately anti-democratic rhetoric. His advocates demanded a systematic "cleansing" of public positions from former communists and the dismissal of supposedly "un-national" leaders at television and radio stations. They also attacked the liberal SzDSz, which they vilified as "cosmopolitan", "liberal-Bolshevik" and "Jewish" and therefore viewed as incompatible with the mindset of "ordinary Hungarians". From 1992 the distance between the national radicals and the moderate government wing grew more and more and in 1993 most of them left the party to form new right wing parties, the most important of which was the Hungarian Truth and Life Party (MIÉP) under István Csurka , a MDF founding member.

After Antall's death in December 1993, his party colleague Péter Boross became the new Prime Minister. He led the government until the general election in May 1994 . Defense Minister Lajos Für took over the chairmanship of the MDF.

Decline

The 1994 election brought MDF a catastrophic defeat. It fell back to 12.0% of the vote and 38 seats and ended up in a beaten third place behind the revitalized socialists and the liberal SzDSz. While the party was in opposition, internal disputes between conservatives like Boross and Sándor Lezsák and moderates over Iván Szabó continued . After Lezsak won the election as party chairman in 1996, Szabó and most of the members of the Antall government left the party and founded the Hungarian People's Democratic Party (MDNP). In the 1998 parliamentary elections, both parties performed very disappointingly (MDF: 2.8%; MDNP: 1.3%), while the far-right MIÉP won 5.5% of the vote. However, the MDF had put up joint candidates with Fidesz in some constituencies - who had changed from liberal to conservative after 1994 - and thus secured 17 seats in parliament. The party joined a Fidesz-led coalition government under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán , who also belonged to the Small Farmers Party .

Ibolya Dávid, party leader 1999–2010

The European People's Party (EPP) accepted the MDF as an observer in 1998, upgraded it to associate member in 2001 and full member in 2004. From 1999 to 2010 the party was led by Ibolya Dávid . For the 2002 parliamentary election, Fidesz and MDF intensified their cooperation and competed nationwide with a joint list. There were even rumors that the forum could completely merge with Fidesz in the medium term. However, the 24 elected MDF members formed their own parliamentary group. Fidesz and MDF were together in opposition to the social-liberal government of Péter Medgyessy .

After a falling out between the two parties - or the chairmen Dávid and Orbán - the MDF ran again separately for the 2004 European elections and received 5.3% of the vote. This meant that a candidate from the party, Péter Olajos , was elected Member of the European Parliament, where he was a member of the EPP-ED Group .

In the parliamentary elections of April 2006 , the party barely exceeded the five percent hurdle with 5.04% of the vote and again formed the parliamentary opposition with the larger Fidesz . After the European elections in 2009 , her newly elected member of the European Parliament, Lajos Bokros , did not join the EPP group, but the new group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). The MDF was therefore suspended by the EPP. Instead, it joined the European party Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists , which was founded in October 2009 .

The party was most recently conservative on social issues and liberal on economic issues . She fully advocated the market economy and wanted a reduction in public spending and corporate and income taxes. She also called for the introduction of a flat tax .

In the parliamentary elections in 2010 she formed an electoral alliance with the SZDSZ, whose candidates were now on the MDF list. The MDF received only 2.66% of the vote and won no seats in parliament. In 2011 the party disbanded. It had already lost its conservative voter base to Fidesz .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Jürgen Dieringer: The political system of the Republic of Hungary. Origin, development, Europeanization. Barbara Budrich Publishing House, Opladen 2009, p. 81.
  2. ↑ a b András Körösényi: Government and Politics in Hungary. Central European University Press, Budapest 1999, p. 35.
  3. ^ A b Adam Michnik: Notes from the Revolution. In: The New York Times , March 11, 1990; reprinted in Michnik: Letters from Freedom. Post-cold War Realities and Perspectives. University of California Press, 1998, p. 145.
  4. ^ Michael Waller: The End of the Communist Power Monopoly. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1993, pp. 220-221.
  5. ^ Waller: The End of the Communist Power Monopoly. 1993, p. 221.
  6. ^ David L. Bartlett: The Political Economy of Dual Transformations. Market Reform and Democratization in Hungary. University of Michigan Press, 1997, p. 144.
  7. ^ Dae Soon Kim: The Transition to Democracy in Hungary. Árpád Göncz and the post-Communist Hungarian presidency. Routledge, 2013, pp. 93-94.
  8. ↑ Körösényi: Government and Politics in Hungary. 1999, p. 36.
  9. ↑ Kim: The Transition to Democracy in Hungary. 2013, pp. 95-96.
  10. ↑ Gabriella Ilonszki, Sándor Kurtán: Brave New World? Political tendencies in Hungary 1990-1993. In: Transformation or Stagnation? Current political trends in Eastern Europe. Signum Verlag, Vienna 1993, p. 156.
  11. ↑ a b Körösényi: Government and Politics in Hungary. 1999, p. 37
  12. ^ A b Dieringer: The political system of the Republic of Hungary. 2009, p. 82.
  13. ^ A b Susanne Pickel : Informal Politics in Parties in Hungary - The Relationships between Parties and Citizens in a Transition Country. In: The social anchoring of political parties. Formal and informal dimensions in an international comparison. VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2004, p. 169.
  14. ↑ Körösényi: Government and Politics in Hungary. 1999, pp. 37-38.
  15. ^ Thomas Jansen, Steven Van Hecke: At Europe's Service. The Origins and Evolution of the European People's Party. Springer, 2011, p. 77.