Duna-gate, also known as Danubegate and Budapest Watergate, was a

political scandal In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, party officials and lobbyists can be accused of various illegal, corrupt, unethic ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

that emerged in 1990. The scandal involved the

wiretapping Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...

of political enemies by the officials within the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

government's secret services, the state security organisation of the

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

, and the shredding of state security documents.The Dunagate Dossier

Blinken Open Society Archives Blinken Open Society Archives (abbreviated as Blinken OSA) is an archival repository and laboratory that aims to explore new ways of assessing, contextualizing, presenting, and making use of archival documents both in a professional and a conscio ...

Renata Uitz: Communist Secret Services on the Screen: The Adventures of the Duna-gate Scandal in and Beyond Hungarian Media
,

Activists had sneaked into government buildings and filmed evidence that surreptitious activities including the secret surveillance of political party leaders and activists were going on even following the October 1989 downfall of the Communist regime precipitated by

Mátyás Szűrös Mátyás Szűrös (; born 11 September 1933 in Püspökladány) is a Hungarian politician. He served as provisional president of the Republic from 23 October 1989 to 2 May 1990. His presidency occurred during Hungary's transition from Communis ...

's 23 October 1989 declaration that Hungary was a

republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

.The History of Security Activities in Hungary
, National Security Office of Hungary (NBH) The

Alliance of Free Democrats The Alliance of Free Democrats – Hungarian Liberal Party ( hu, Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége – a Magyar Liberális Párt, SZDSZ) was a liberal political party in Hungary. The SZDSZ was a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats ...

and the Alliance of Young Democrats held a press conference on 5 January 1990 to release evidence that officials of the state security organisation had collected private information on a number of people, an act made illegal by a 1989 Constitutional amendment. A key figure in the scandal was József Végvári, an intelligence officer within the secret services, who allowed the infiltration. Interior Minister

István Horváth István Horváth (1 September 1935, Paks) is a former Hungarian communist politician, who served as Interior Minister twice: between 1980–1985 and between 1987 and 1990. Horvath studied law at ELTE. He joined the MSZMP in 1956. He was the f ...

resigned due to the scandal. The scandal was the subject of

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

s and government investigations,1990 Chronology
Cold War History Research Center at

Corvinus University of Budapest Corvinus University of Budapest ( hu, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem) is a university in Budapest, Hungary. The university currently has an enrolment of approximately 9,600 students, with a primary focus on business administration, economics, and so ...

and may have contributed to the poor showing of the

Hungarian Socialist Party The Hungarian Socialist Party ( hu, Magyar Szocialista Párt), commonly known by its acronym MSZP, is a centre-left social-democratic and pro-European political party in Hungary. It was founded on 7 October, 1989 as a post-communist evolution a ...

in the

1990 Hungarian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 25 March 1990, with a second round of voting taking place in all but five single member constituencies on 8 April. They were the first completely free and competitive elections to be held in the coun ...

References

{{reflist Politics of Hungary Political scandals in Hungary 1990 in Hungary