The

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

( hu, Az ellenzék vezetője) is an unofficial title held by the leader of the largest party not within the government. The Opposition ( hu, Ellenzék) in

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 ...

is the body of political parties represented in the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

which are not a part of the

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 ...

supported by the

parliamentary majority A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...

History

The Leader of the Opposition is normally the leader of the largest party not within the government, which is usually the second largest political party 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 ...

. Following the first democratic election in 1990 after the end of communism,

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) suffered a close defeat, thus becoming the leading opposition force in the parliament. After the fall of the conservative government at the following 1994 parliamentary election, SZDSZ, the second largest party, surprised many by entering into a coalition with 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 ...

(MSZP), which achieved a remarkable revival, winning an overall majority of 209 seats out of 386.Bodan Todosijević ''The Hungarian Voter: Left–Right Dimension as a Clue to Policy Preferences'' in International Political Science Review (2004), Vol 25, No. 4, p. 421 Thus

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), only with 38 MPs became the largest opposition party, while the government had a

two-thirds majority 2/3 may refer to: * A fraction with decimal value 0.6666... * A way to write the expression "2 ÷ 3" ("two divided by three") * 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines of the United States Marine Corps * February 3 * March 2 Events Pre-1600 * 537 – ...

. On 4 March 1996, 15 MPs left MDF and formed

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), as a result agrarian right-wing

Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party The Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party ( hu, Független Kisgazda-, Földmunkás- és Polgári Párt), known mostly by its acronym FKgP or its shortened form Independent Smallholders' Party ( hu, Független Kisgazdapárt), ...

(FKgP) became the largest opposition party. By 1997, several parliamentarians had joined the

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 ...

, mainly from the disintegrating Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP). The Fidesz became the main challenger to the socialist-liberal cabinet. From 1998 until 2010, there was a ''de facto'' two-party system in Hungary. MSZP suffered a heavy defeat in the 2010 election (won by Fidesz with a two-thirds majority), gaining only 19,3% of the votes, and 59 seats in the parliament, nevertheless the Socialists were able to maintain their leading role in the opposition, while Hungarian politics became a

dominant-party system A dominant-party system, or one-party dominant system, is a political occurrence in which a single political party continuously dominates election results over running opposition groups or parties. Any ruling party staying in power for more th ...

. The 2014 parliamentary election confirmed this position. Socialist Party

Gyula Molnár Gyula Molnár (born 17 August 1961) is a Hungarian politician who was the leader of the Hungarian Socialist Party between 2016 and 2018. He was a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 2010 and from 2018 to 2022, and also served as Mayor of Újbuda ...

was the Leader of the Opposition from 25 June 2016 to 2018. After

Jobbik The Movement for a Better Hungary ( hu, Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom), commonly known as Jobbik (), is a conservative political party in Hungary. Originating with radical and nationalist roots, at its beginnings, the party described itself ...

became the largest opposition party in the 2018 parliamentary election, the unofficial title belonged to

Tamás Sneider Tamás Sneider (born 11 June 1972) is a Hungarian politician, who was leader of the Jobbik from May 2018 to January 2020. Before that he was one of the vice-presidents of the party from 2009 to 2018. He was a member of the parliament from 2010 ...

, from 2018 to 2020 when he was replaced at Jobbik's Congress by

Péter Jakab Péter Jakab (born 16 August 1980) is a Hungarian politician and member of the National Assembly. He served as president of the right-wing Jobbik between January 2020 and June 2022. He had been the parliamentary group leader of Jobbik from July ...

who has held the post until the next election, when the Democratic Coalition became the largest opposition party.

List of leaders of the Opposition

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" , - ! ! colspan="2", Leader ! Political Party ! Term of office , - , style="background: ; color:white;" , 1 , Kis János 1989 (crop)

János Kis János Kis (born 17 September 1943) is a Hungarian philosopher and political scientist, who served as the inaugural leader of the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) from 1990 to 1991. He is considered to be the first Leader Hungarian p ...

SZDSZ 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 Democrat ...

, 1990–1991 , - , style="background: ; color:white;" , 2 , Tölgyessy Péter cropped

, Péter Tölgyessy ,

, 1991–1992 , - , style="background: ; color:white;" , 3 , PetőIván

Iván Pető Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

, 1992–1994 , - , style="background: ; color:white;" , 4 , No image

Lajos Für Lajos Für (21 December 1930 – 22 October 2013) was a Hungarian politician and historian, who served as Minister of Defence between 1990 and 1994. From 1994 to 1996 he was also chairman of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), the ruling cons ...

, MDF , 1994–1996 , - , style="background:; color:white;" , 5 , Torgyán József - 2016 (crop)

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 ...

FKgP The Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party ( hu, Független Kisgazda-, Földmunkás- és Polgári Párt), known mostly by its acronym FKgP or its shortened form Independent Smallholders' Party ( hu, Független Kisgazdapárt), ...

, 1996–1997 , - , style="background:; color:white;" , 6 , Orban Viktor Portrait 2010

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 ...

, 1997–1998 , - , style="background:; color:white;" , 7 , Gyula Horn (2007)

Gyula Horn Gyula János Horn (5 July 1932 – 19 June 2013) was a Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1994 to 1998. Horn is remembered as the last Communist Minister of Foreign Affairs who played a major role in the demolishi ...

MSZP The Hungarian Socialist Party ( hu, Magyar Szocialista Párt), commonly known by its acronym MSZP, is a Centre-left politics, centre-left social democracy, social-democratic and Pro-Europeanism, pro-European list of political parties in Hungary, ...

, 1998 , - , style="background:; color:white;" , 8 , MSZP Congress July 2014-07

, László Kovács ,

, 1998–2002 , - , style="background:; color:white;" , 9 , Pokorni Zoltan 2008-10-23 (crop)

Zoltán Pokorni Zoltán Pokorni (born 10 January 1962) is a Hungarian educator and politician, who served as Minister of Education between 1998 and 2001. He finished his studies in the Eötvös Loránd University in 1987. After that he worked as a teacher f ...

, 2002 , - , style="background:; color:white;" , 10 , Ader Janos

János Áder János Áder (; born 9 May 1959) is a Hungarian politician and lawyer who served as President of Hungary from 2012 to 2022. He is a long-time politician of the right-wing Fidesz. As a representative of his party, he took part in the Hungarian Ro ...

, 2002–2003 , - , style="background:; color:white;" , (6) , Orban Viktor Portrait 2010

, 2003–2010 , - , style="background:; color:white;" , 11 , Lendvai Ildikó 2010-02-20 (crop)

, Ildikó Lendvai ,

, 2010 , - , style="background:; color:white;" , 12 , Mesterházy Attila 2009-12-14

Attila Mesterházy Attila Mesterházy (born 30 January 1974) is a Hungarian politician, who served as the seventh chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) from 10 July 2010 to 29 May 2014. He was the party's candidate for the position of Prime Minister of ...

, 2010–2014 , - , style="background:; color:white;" , — , Horn Gyula temetése Botka László

, ''

László Botka László Botka (born February 21, 1973) is a Hungarian politician. Botka was a member of the Hungarian Socialist Party between 1991 and 2019, and the current mayor of Szeged. Biography László Botka was born on February 21, 1973, in Tiszaföldv ...

''Acting Leader of the Opposition , ''

'' , ''2014'' , - , style="background:; color:white;" , 13 , Tobias Jozsef 2013-12-18

József Tóbiás József Tóbiás (born 15 July 1970) is a Hungarian politician, who served as the leader of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) from 19 July 2014 to 25 June 2016. He was also a Member of Parliament from 1998 to 2019. Career Tóbiás was born ...

, 2014–2016 , - , style="background:; color:white;" , 14 , Molnár Gyula (MSZP

, 2016–2018 , - , style="background:; color:white;" , 15 , Sneidertamas2014

, 2018–2020 , - , style="background:; color:white;" , 16 , Jakab_Péter

, 2020–2022 , - , style="background:{{party color, Democratic Coalition (Hungary); color:white;" , 17 , Ferenc Gyurcsány, Davos 2 (cropped)

Ferenc Gyurcsány Ferenc Gyurcsány (; born 4 June 1961) is a Hungarian entrepreneur and politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 2004 to 2009. Prior to that, he held the position of Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports between 2003 and 2004. He ...

, Democratic Coalition , 2022–present

References

Politics of Hungary

History

List of leaders of the Opposition

See also

References