Iván Szabó (8 January 1934 – 4 August 2005) was a Hungarian politician, who served as

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

between 1993 and 1994. He joined to the

Hungarian Democratic Forum The Hungarian Democratic Forum ( hu, Magyar Demokrata Fórum, MDF) was a centre-right political party in Hungary. It had a Hungarian nationalist, national-conservative, Christian-democratic ideology. The party was represented continuously in the ...

in 1988. He was chosen to the party's presidency in 1990. After the death of

József Antall József Tihamér Antall Jr. ( hu, ifjabb Antall József Tihamér, ; 8 April 1932 – 12 December 1993) was a Hungarian teacher, librarian, historian, and statesman who served as the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Hungary, holdin ...

(1993) he served as manager president. Szabó was member of the

National Assembly of Hungary The National Assembly ( hu, Országgyűlés, lit=Country Assembly) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to 4-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proporti ...

since 1990. Between June 1990 and December 1991 he served as the Chairman of the Assembly's Economical Committee. He was appointed Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism in 1991. He became

faction leader Faction or factionalism may refer to: Politics * Political faction, a group of people with a common political purpose * Free and Independent Faction, a Romanian political party * Faction (''Planescape''), a political faction in the game ''Planes ...

in 1994. Szabó entered for the party's presidential election in 1996 but was beaten by Sándor Lezsák. After that Szabó and some other prominent members (

György Szabad György Szabad (4 August 1924 – 3 July 2015) was a Hungarian politician and historian, founder member of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF). He was the Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary The Speaker of the National Assembly of H ...

) left the party. They founded the

Hungarian Democratic People's Party The Hungarian Democratic People's Party ( hu, Magyar Demokrata Néppárt; MDNP) was a political party in Hungary between 1996 and 2005. History The national conservative party formed on 4 March 1996, when Iván Szabó and his supporters left Hung ...

(MDNP) and Szabó appointed the new party's first president and faction leader. The MDNP did not hit the 5% threshold contrary at the 1998 election, that's why Szabó resigned from his position. He was a founding member of the Centre Party in 2001.

References

Interview with Iván Szabó
1934 births 2005 deaths Politicians from Budapest Hungarian Democratic Forum politicians Finance ministers of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1990–1994) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1994–1998) {{Hungary-politician-stub