The Christian Democratic People's Party ( hu, Kereszténydemokrata Néppárt, KDNP) is a right-wing
Christian democratic
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
political party in Hungary. It is officially a coalition partner of the ruling party,
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 Youn ...
, but is mostly considered a
satellite party
Satellite Party was an alternative rock band formed by Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell following the break-up of Jane's Addiction in 2004. Other members included Carl Restivo (bass) and Farrell's wife, Etty Lau Farrell (backing singer an ...
of Fidesz, and has been unable to get into the Parliament on its own since the 1990s (with the last time it did so being
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...
), being unable to pass the
election threshold of 5% of the vote. Without Fidesz, its support is now low enough that it can no longer be measured, and even a leading Fidesz politician,
János Lázár, stated that Fidesz does not consider the government to be a coalition government.
History
The party was founded under the name of KDNP on 13 October 1944 by Hungarian
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
statesmen, intellectuals and clergy, and was a successor to the pre-war
United Christian Party. Among the founders were Bishop
Vilmos Apor
Vilmos Apor de Altorja (29 February 1892 – 2 April 1945) was a Hungarian Roman Catholic prelate, born as a baron in the noble Apor family, and served as a bishop during World War II. He became famous for protesting against the persecution ...
, Béla Kovrig (president of the
University of Cluj-Napoca), , Count
József Pálffy,
ethnographer Sándor Bálint and political journalist
István Barankovics. It was an offshoot of the ''Catholic Social Folk Movement'' (KSzN), a civil organization. At the beginning of 1945 they elected Barankovics as principal secretary.
The new KDNP enjoyed just four or five months of semi-legality towards the end of World War II. At the end of the war, the communist-dominated post-war authorities refused to legalize it or permit it to operate further. Despite attempts by Varga and Barankovics, they were refused official permission to operate and take part in elections. Some of the party's founders, including Varga, were imprisoned for some days by detachments of the
Arrow Cross Party
The Arrow Cross Party ( hu, Nyilaskeresztes Párt – Hungarista Mozgalom, , abbreviated NYKP) was a far-right Hungarian ultranationalist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which formed a government in Hungary they named the Government of National U ...
.
Meanwhile, some party members were saying that Barankovics conceded too much to the communist-influenced authorities in return for too little, and there was growing friction between two factions: the Christian socialist left wing led by Barankovics and the conservative-clerical right wing led by
József Mindszenty's confidant, József Pálffy. The left wing gained increasing ascendancy in the party, and on 8 May 1945, Barankovics replaced Pálffy as president. The party changed its name to the Democratic People's Party (DNP), while a group led by Pálffy founded a new party called KDNP, which, however, failed to remain legal in an atmosphere of increasing
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
influence. The
1947 elections saw the DNP finish second in the popular vote, winning 60 of the 411 seats.
[ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p931 ]
DNP was a democratic and anticommunist organisation. In 1949,
Mátyás Rákosi asked Barankovics for the party's leaders to help him in the
show trial
A show trial is a public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal the presentation of both the accusation and the verdict to the ...
against Cardinal Mindszenty, who was already ill in prison. Barankovics refused and, abandoning his party, escaped to Austria in an American diplomat's car. Many people followed his example; others were imprisoned by communists. The party was subsequently dissolved in January 1949.
Refoundation and present
The party was refounded in 1989 with its present name. The link between the historical party and the present one is disputed, although prominent members of the original party, like
László Varga, took part in its refoundation. The party won 21 seats in the
1990 parliamentary election and entered the government with 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 ...
(MDF) and the
Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party (FKgP) and, later, the
United Smallholders' Party (EKGP).
In the
1994 election, KDNP won 22 seats in the National Assembly and moved into opposition to the new coalition between the
Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and 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 ...
(SZDSZ). It lost all of its seats in the
1998 election.
In 2002 it formed a joint list with the
Centre Party but again it did not manage to win any seats.
In 2005 KDNP signed
an agreement with
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 Youn ...
for election cooperation, a result of which the KDNP obtained seats in the National Assembly. In the 2006 elections this alliance gained strength, winning 42.0% of the list votes and 164 representatives out of 386 in the National Assembly. The party decided to form a self-contained parliamentary faction with 23 representatives.
The Fidesz-KDNP Alliance won the
2010 election, with the KDNP increasing its seats to 36; party leader
Zsolt Semjén was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for National Politics. The alliance won again in the
2014 and
2018 election, although KDNP decreased its seats to 16. The party currently holds two ministers in the
Fourth Orbán Government
The fourth Orbán government ( Hungarian: ''negyedik Orbán-kormány'') was the Government of Hungary from 18 May 2018 to 24 May 2022, after the 2018 parliamentary elections, led by Viktor Orbán.
Policy Social policy
On 2018 October, Orban's ...
: party leader Zsolt Semjén (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for National Politics, Church Affairs and Nationalities) and
János Süli
János Süli (born 26 January 1956) is a Hungarian electrical engineer, business executive and politician. He served as CEO of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant from 2009 to 2010, and the mayor of Paks from 2014 to 2017. On 2 May 2017, he was appoint ...
(Minister for the planning, construction and commissioning of the two new blocks at
Paks Nuclear Power Plant
The Paks Nuclear Power Plant ( hu, Paksi atomerőmű), located from the small town of Paks, central Hungary, is the first and only operating nuclear power station in Hungary. In 2019, its four reactors produced more than 50% of Hungary's ele ...
).
The party is considered by many to have become a satellite party of Fidesz. Without Fidesz, its support cannot be measured, and even a leading Fidesz politician,
János Lázár stated in 2011 that Fidesz does not consider the government to be a coalition government.
KDNP is a member of the
European People's Party (EPP). Although its ally Fidesz's membership has been suspended on 20 March 2019, and its
MEPs left the
European People's Party group on 3 March 2021, KDNP retained its European affiliation and their only MEP
György Hölvényi remained the sole member of the EPP group from Hungary thereafter.
Ideology
KDNP is a right-wing, conservative Christian democratic party. It is well known in Hungary for its traditional-marriage,
anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
and anti-immigration stance, and its representatives voted against the
Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe because it did not refer to Europe's Christian heritage, although the party does not consider itself
Eurosceptic.
KDNP has supported the severe restriction on
Sunday shopping ("free Sunday", as they called) for a long time, citing Christian values. Parliament voted on the issue on December 14, 2014 and the law came into effect on March 15, 2015 (a Sunday on which shops would have been closed anyway, the day being a
public holiday in Hungary). Public opinion was predominantly against the decision. Three polls done in the spring of 2015 registered an opposition of 64% (Szonda Ipsos), 62% (Medián) 59% (Tárki). By the end of May, according to a poll by Medián, 72% of those polled disliked the new law, even the majority of Fidesz-KDNP voters were against it. Opposition parties and private persons tried to start a public referendum several times. By November 2015 there were 16 such attempts, but none of them were approved, for various bureaucratic reasons, until in early 2016 one of these attempts, initiated by the
Hungarian Socialist Party, was finally successful. The government, rather than being forced to hold the referendum (which could have been interpreted as a huge success for the opposition party, even though the law was opposed by the majority of Fidesz voters too) lifted the ban in April 2016.
Parliamentary representation
National Assembly
European Parliament
See also
*
Politics of Hungary
Sources
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
1989 establishments in Hungary
Anti-communism in Hungary
Agrarian parties in Hungary
Anti-communist parties
Catholic political parties
Christian democratic parties in Hungary
Conservative parties in Hungary
National conservative parties
Formerly banned political parties
Member parties of the European People's Party
Political parties established in 1943
Political parties established in 1989
Social conservative parties
Right-wing parties in Europe