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Hungary

Factsheet

ETHNIC MINORITIES:  

Roma:

7.05
RELIGIONS:  

Roman Catholic:

Calvinist:

Lutheran:

Greek Catholic:

Muslim:

51.9

15.9

3.0

2.6

0.3

NET MIGRATION:    75,000
POP. GROWTH RATE: -0.3%
GDP GROWTH: +2.7%
GDP PER CAPITA: 12,531
UNEMPLOYMENT: 10.2%

 

Jobbik Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom, Jobbik)

 

Jobbik Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom) is a far right political party. The predecessor of Jobbik was an organization appealing primarily to students, called Jobboldali Ifjúsági Közösség (Right-Wing Youth Association), which in 2003 was formed into a political party. While in 2006 Jobbik failed to get far as an ally of MIÉP, it became notably stronger afterwards. At the European Parliamentary elections in 2009, Jobbik secured 3 mandates having received over 427 000 votes (14.77 %), whereas in the general elections a year later in 2010, it passed the parliamentary threshold as the third most popular party, boasting more than 855 000 votes. More recently, Jobbik has managed to attract more supporters and increased its popularity rating above that seen in the April 2010 general elections. Currently more than 20 % of committed voters with party preferences would vote for Jobbik, compared to the 16.67 % of votes that the party received in the 2010 elections. With such numbers Jobbik is now one of the strongest far-right parties in Europe, even though it is far more radical than the other parties carrying the same political label in Western Europe. The party's more radical stance is reflected not only in its ideology, but was also evident  when it initiated and supported the formation of The Hungarian Guard (Magyar Gárda), currently a banned paramilitary organization. The Guard had been Jobbik’s most efficient instrument in mobilization and recruitment, and it was one of the main factors behind its success. The ideology embraced by Jobbik is essentially anti-liberal. It refutes the liberal interpretation of human rights and remains ethnocentric, irredentist, homophobic and anti-Semitic. In its economic policies the party opposes free-market liberalism and in terms of foreign policy it may be willing to relinquish a Western orientation and approach Eastern partners instead (notably Iran and Turkey).
Jobbik's 2014 platform rejects the European Union describing it “as a super-state over nations”; instead it promotes the concept of a “Europe of nations” that would eliminate dependence on the Euro-Atlantic alliance and replace it with an opening to the East, i.e., Russia. To implement its program, the party urges a review of the country's EU membership and its potential withdrawal from the organization, and with that the country would regain its sovereignty.
In the April 2014 general elections Hungary’s far right party, Jobbik again saw its support base soaring to around 1 million. The ruling Fidesz-KDNP claimed 45.04% of the popular vote, the left-wing party alliance called “Government Change” got 25.67%, while Jobbik’s 20.30% share earned it the third place. Although Jobbik officials and candidates seemed rather disappointed on election night for failing to win a single individual district or become the second strongest political force, in 2014 the party still accomplished to boost its support base from 855,436 (2010) to 1,020,476 voters.
 

Jobbik on the Internet:

 

 

Source:

- Political Capital

 

Hungarian Party of Justice and Life (Magyar Igazság és Élet Pártja, MIÉP)

 

Hungarian Party of Justice and Life (Magyar Igazság és Élet Pártja, MIÉP) was established in 1993 by the well-known playwright István Csurka and a group of politicians who followed him after he was expelled from MDF (Hungarian Democratic Forum). MIÉP claimed that the first freely elected government after the change of the political regime did not leave any room for the advocates of popular and nationalist views in its leadership, failed to demand accountability from the leaders of the Socialist regime, relinquished the overall revision of the Treaty of Trianon, and nevertheless made no attempt to have the crippling foreign debts accumulated during the Socialist governance cancelled. MIÉP defined its stance as radical, national(ist), conservative and anti-globalist. The largest success of the party came in 1998, when MIÉP passed the parliamentary threshold having received almost 250 000 votes (5.5 %). In the 2002 elections the party received fewer votes (4.37 %) and thus dropped out of the parliament. As of today, MIÉP has become irrelevant, lost its place in the limelight entirely and practically vanished from the political spectrum as a result of Jobbik’s growth. This has been visible in the 2006 election results when MIÉP received 2.2 % of votes and especially in 2010 when it received only 0.03 % of votes. The recent death of István Csurka is likely to further affect its weakening.

 

MIÉP on the Internet:

 

 

Source:

- Political Capital

European Parliament elections - May 25, 2014

Parliamentary elections - April 6, 2014

Parliamentary elections - April 11, 2010

European Parliament elections - June 7, 2009

Our thematic websites

Political Capital's activities in English

Political Capital's analyses and activities in English.

Research and advocacy programme focused on the role conspiracy theorising plays in shaping populist and radical politics.

Research and advocacy programme focused on the role conspiracy theorising plays in shaping populist and radical politics.

Our project New electoral system in Hungary: watchdogging, advocacy and raising awareness focuses on the electoral reform in Hungary

Our project New electoral system in Hungary: watchdogging, advocacy and raising awareness focuses on the electoral reform in Hungary.

Our blog on political and societal extremism and conspiracy theories.

Our blog on political and societal extremism and conspiracy theories.

 

 

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