The First Orbán Government was the fourth democraticly elected government in Hungary after the regime change. It existed between 1998 and 2002. Its creation was made possible by the FKgP: the party withdrew 82 candidates in the second round of the election, so FKgP voters voted for the local Fidesz candidate instead, thus reversing the election result. Due to the resignations in the Parliament afterwards, the votes of the way smaller but still large number of 48 smallholder representatives were essential for the formation of the government. The governmental relationship between the two parties was formed by the coalition agreement developed by the negotiating delegations, led by

László Kövér László Kövér (; born 29 December 1959) is a Hungarian politician and the current speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary. He was the acting president of Hungary from 2 April 2012 to 10 May 2012, after the resignation of Pál Schmitt. A ...

and Béla Szabadi. The coalition government consisted of three parties:

Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; hu, Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Hungary, led by Viktor Orbán. It was formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young ...

, FKgP and MDF. The latter was introduced to the Parliament with the help of Fidesz. Prime Minister

Viktor Orbán Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian politician who has served as prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has presided over Fidesz since 1993, with a brief break between 20 ...

took his oath of office on July 6, 1998, and his ministers took office on July 8, two days later. The coalition was dissolved in 2001, if not formally, but on its merits: the coalition agreement virtually expired. The FKgP could not even recall Imre Boros, even though the right to nominate belonged to the party. From the moment that

József Torgyán József Torgyán (16 November 1932 − 22 January 2017) was a Hungarian lawyer and politician, chairman of the Independent Smallholders' Party (1991−2002), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (1998−2001) i ...

, the chairman of the FKgP, was forced to resign as a minister because of his son's so called "cassette case", although he was able to retain his position within the party, but his position weakened considerably: his party faction expelled the party chairman from the group with votes from

supporters and in violation of house rules. He assured the government of the support of five members who had previously been expelled or separated from the smallholder faction, leaving a majority in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

for a time. At the same time, the government received external support from MIÉP.

Party breakdown

Beginning of term

Party breakdown of cabinet ministers in the beginning of term:

End of term

Party breakdown of cabinet ministers in the end of term:

Composition

References

József Bölöny: ''Magyarország kormányai 1848–2004 (Governments of Hungary from 1848 to 2004)'' Az 1987–2004 közötti időszakot feldolgozta és sajtó alá rendezte Hubai László. 5. bővített és javított kiadás. (the period between 1987 and 2004 was written by László Hubai) Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó. 2004. ISBN 963-05-8106-X {{DEFAULTSORT:Orban Government 01 1998 establishments in Hungary 2002 disestablishments in Hungary Cabinets established in 1998 Cabinets disestablished in 2002 Hungarian governments

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...