The Liberal Party ( hu, Szabadelvű Párt) was a political party 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, Cr ...

between 1875 and 1906.

History

The party was established in February 1875 by a merger of the Deák Party and the

Left Centre The Left Centre ( hu, Balközép) was a political party in Hungary in the 1860s and 1870s led by Kálmán Tisza and Kálmán Ghyczy.Vincent E McHale (1983) ''Political parties of Europe'', Greenwood Press, p505 History The Left Centre finished s ...

.Vincent E McHale (1983) ''Political parties of Europe'', Greenwood Press, p505 It won a huge majority in the 1875 elections, with former Left Centre member

Kálmán Tisza Kálmán Tisza de Borosjenő (archaic English: Coloman Tisza, or Koloman Tisza; 16 December 1830 – 23 March 1902) was the Hungarian prime minister between 1875 and 1890. He is credited with the formation of a consolidated Magyar governme ...

becoming Prime Minister. Kálmán Tisza remained Prime Minister until 1890, and using violence,. The Liberal Party was a main supporter of the

Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (german: Ausgleich, hu, Kiegyezés) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereignty and status of the Kingdom of Hunga ...

and the partnership with Austria. However the Austro-Hungarian Compromise remained bitterly unpopular among the ethnic Hungarian voters, and the continuous successes of these pro-compromise Liberal Party in the Hungarian parliamentary elections caused long lasting frustration for Hungarians. The ethnic minorities had the key role in the political maintenance of the compromise in Hungary, because they were able to vote the pro-compromise Liberal Party into the position of the majority/ruling parties of the Hungarian parliament. The pro-compromise liberal parties were the most popular among ethnic minority voters, however i.e. the Slovak, Serb and Romanian minority parties remained unpopular among their own ethnic minority voters. The Liberal Party was often called as the "Imperialist Party", in Hungary it meant to being supporter of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, and had a negative connotation as a supporter of the political and economic interests of Austrian Empire, and the Habsburg Emperor, hence the ethnic Hungarian voters mocked the party as "the Imperialists". In the 1905 elections, the coalitions of Hungarian nationalist parties like the Independence and '48 Party won the most seats. The nationalist coalition was supported by the overwhelming majority of ethnic Hungarian voters. In 1906 King Franz Joseph announced a new election, which was won by the nationalist coalition again. Due to these defeat at the parliamentary election, the Liberal Party has disbanded itself, and it was reorganized under a new name:

National Party of Work The National Party of Work ( hu, Nemzeti Munkapárt) was a liberal political party in Hungary between 1910 and the end of World War I. The party was established by István Tisza after the defeat of the Liberal Party in the 1905 and 1906 election ...

in 1910. The party passed legislation for

Jewish emancipation Jewish emancipation was the process in various nations in Europe of eliminating Jewish disabilities, e.g. Jewish quotas, to which European Jews were then subject, and the recognition of Jews as entitled to equality and citizenship rights. It in ...

and appointed Jews to parliament (both the upper and lower houses) in 1867. In return, many Jews supported the party. Many districts of Budapest, where Jews made up half of the voters, reliably voted for the Liberal candidate.

References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in Hungary Political parties established in 1875 Political parties disestablished in 1906 Political parties in Austria-Hungary Classical liberal parties