The Hungarian Democratic People's Party (, ; MDNP) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

between 1996 and 2005.

History

The

national conservative National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity, communitarianism and the public role of religion. It shares aspects of traditionalist conservatism and social conserva ...

party formed on 4 March 1996, when

Iván Szabó Iván Szabó (8 January 1934 – 4 August 2005) was a Hungary, Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Finance between 1993 and 1994. He joined to the Hungarian Democratic Forum in 1988. He was chosen to the party's presidency in 1990. Af ...

and his supporters left

Hungarian Democratic Forum The Hungarian Democratic Forum (, , 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 National Assembly from t ...

(MDF) following Szabó's defeat against

Sándor Lezsák Sándor Lezsák (born 30 October 1949) is a Hungarian poet, teacher and politician. Between 2 April 2012 and 10 May 2012, Lezsák was temporarily the Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary, as the resignation of Pál Schmitt led to Speaker ...

at the party leadership election. 15 MPs, including several prominent politicians, such as

György Szabad György Szabad (4 August 1924 – 3 July 2015) was a Hungarian politician and historian, founding member of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF). He was the Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary between 1990 and 1994. He was a member of th ...

Géza Jeszenszky Géza Jeszenszky (born 10 November 1941) is a Hungarian politician and associate professor, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and a former ambassador to the United States. He was ambassador of Hungary to Norway and Iceland from 2011 to 2014. Fa ...

and Imre Kónya, formed a parliamentary group and Szabó became its leader. The MDNP did not hit the 5% threshold contrary at the 1998 parliamentary election, as a result Szabó resigned from his position. He was replaced by

Erzsébet Pusztai Erzsébet (, ) is a village in Baranya county, Hungary. Demographics According to a 2011 census, the village of Erzsébet had 286 inhabitants. From an ethnic point of view, the majority of the inhabitants (81.36%) were Hungarians, with minor ...

. Under her leadership, the party joined the moderate centre alliance of Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP),

Alliance of Green Democrats The Alliance of Green Democrats (, ; ZDSZ), was a green political party in Hungary between 2000 and 2009. History It was established by the merger of Green Alternative (ZA), Social Democracy 2000 Foundation (SD2000) and the Social Democrat Youth ...

(ZDSZ) and Third Way for Hungary (HOM), which formed Centre Party ().

Mihály Kupa Mihály Kupa (3 April 1941 – 2 September 2024) was a Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Finance between 1990 and 1993. He was arrested in 1958 for ten months. He finished his studies at the Karl Marx University of Economic Scienc ...

's alliance won 3.9% of the popular vote and no seats at the 2002 parliamentary election. József Szabó was elected the new president of the MDNP in June 2002. MDNP supported MDF at

2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but elect ...

. The unusual alliance of centre-right and centre-left groups hindered the Centre Party's effectiveness and, eventually, two of the founding political formations, KDNP and MDNP quit the party on 31 December 2004. the Hungarian Democratic People's Party re-merged with the Hungarian Democratic Forum on 2 April 2005.

Presidents of the MDNP

(1996–1998) *

(1998–2002) * József Szabó (2002–2005)

Parliamentary representation

The 15-member parliamentary group of Hungarian Democratic People's Party formed on 11 March 1996: Leader *

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

(1993–1994) Deputy Leaders *

, later President of the MDNP (1998–2002) *

György Raskó György () is a Hungarian version of the name '' George''. Some notable people with this given name: * György Alexits (1899–1978), Hungarian mathematician * György Almásy (1867–1933), Hungarian asiologist, traveler, zoologist and ethnog ...

agrarian entrepreneur *

, Speaker of the National Assembly (1990–1994) Members *

Etelka Barsi-Pataky Etelka Barsi-Pataky (15 September 1941, Budapest – 4 February 2018) was a Hungarian politician. From 2004 to 2009, she was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) with Fidesz, part of the European People's Party. She sat on the European Pa ...

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(2004–2009) *

László Bogár László () is a Hungarian male given name and surname after the King-Knight Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary (1077–1095). It derives from Ladislav, a variant of Vladislav. The name has a history of being frequently anglicized as Leslie. It is the ...

economist, publicist *

Gabriella Farkas Gabriella may refer to: * Gabriella (given name), a feminine given name * ''Gabriella di Vergy'', an opera seria by Gaetano Donizetti (1826, revised 1838), and an opera by Mercadante (1828), based on the tragedy ''Gabrielle de Vergy'' by Dormont De ...

jurist *

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

(1990–1994) *

Tamás Katona Tamás Katona (2 February 1932 – 28 June 2013)Imre Kónya,

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, th ...

(1993–1994) * Katalin Kónya-Kutrucz jurist, wife of Imre Kónya *

Ferenc Kulin Ferenc () is a given name of Hungarian origin. It is a cognate of Francis, Francisco, Francesco, François, Frank and Franz. People with the name include: * Ferenc Batthyány (1497–1566), Hungarian magnate and general * Ferenc Bene (1944–20 ...

, Leader of the MDF parliamentary group (1993–1994) * Tamás Szabó, Minister for Privatisation (1992–1994) *

Tihamér Tóth Tihamér is a masculine given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the ot ...

jurist * Attila Zsigmond, Director-General of Budapest Gallery

Electoral results

National Assembly

¹ MDNP was a member of the alliance of Centre Party

References

{{Hungarian political parties Conservative parties in Hungary Defunct political parties in Hungary 1996 establishments in Hungary 2005 disestablishments in Hungary