Péter Károly Ungár (born 10 June 1991) is a Hungarian entrepreneur, politician and geographer, who is a Member of the

National Assembly of Hungary The National Assembly ( ) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to four-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proportional representation: a mixed-member m ...

from the LMP party's national list since 8 May 2018. He has been male co-chair of the party since August 2022.

Personal life

His father András Ungár was a sociologist, his mother

Mária Schmidt Mária Schmidt (born 10 October 1953) is a Hungarian historian and university lecturer. In 2016 she holds the office of the Government Commissioner of the Memorial Year of the 1956 Revolution, Director-General of the 20th Century Institute, the ...

is a historian who is the director of the House of Terror Museum in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. He is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

on his father's side, while he is of

Transylvanian Saxon The Transylvanian Saxons (; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen'' or simply ''Soxen'', singularly ''Sox'' or ''Soax''; Transylvanian Landler: ''Soxn'' or ''Soxisch''; ; seldom ''sași ardeleni/transilvăneni/transilvani''; ) are a people ...

descent through his maternal grandfather. His older sister is Anna Ungár and his aunt Klára Ungár were

Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; ) is a national-conservative political party in Hungary led by Viktor Orbán. It has increasingly identified as illiberal. Originally formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young Democrats () as ...

and then

SZDSZ The Alliance of Free Democrats – Hungarian Liberal Party (, , SZDSZ ) was a liberal political party in Hungary. The SZDSZ was a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and of Liberal International. It drew its su ...

member of parliament. Ungár came out as gay in April 2019.

Academia

Between 2005 and 2009, he studied at the Toldy Ferenc Gymnasium. Between 2009 and 2013, he studied geography at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, before studying geography and

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

in Spanish at the

University of Cantabria The University of Cantabria (UC) () is a public university located in Santander, Torrelavega and Comillas in Cantabria, Spain. It was founded in 1972 and comprises 15 schools and colleges. It was selected as Campus of International Ex ...

. He also studied for a time at the

Central European University Central European University (CEU; , ) is a private research university in Vienna. The university offers graduate and undergraduate programs in the social sciences and humanities, which are accredited in Austria and the United States. The univ ...

Politics

Becoming an activist for the LMP in 2010, Ungár later joined the party in 2013, where he became the party's international secretary. The

2014 Hungarian local elections Local elections were held in Hungary on October 12, 2014. It was the first local election according to the new Constitution of Hungary The Fundamental Law of Hungary (), the country's constitution, was adopted by parliament on 18 April 2011, pr ...

saw Ungár receive 291 votes in the

2nd District of Budapest The 2nd district of Budapest is a district of Budapest, Hungary. It has an area of 36.34 km2 and is situated to the south of the 3rd district and to the north of the 1st district and the 12th district. Notable places * Széll Kálmán ...

, failing to become the individual constituency's representative. However, Ungár was elected as a local government representative through the compensation list. In the

2018 Hungarian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 8 April 2018. The elections were the second since the adoption of a new constitution, which came into force on 1 January 2012. The result was a victory for the Fidesz– KDNP alliance, preserving ...

, Ungár ran as a candidate for the LMP in Budapest's fourth constituency, as well as fifth in LMP's national list. Managing to receive 10.1% of votes cast in the constituency, Ungár failed to get a constituency seat; instead winning a seat through the national list. Entering into the National Assembly on 8 May 2018, he was the

Baby of the House Baby of the House is the unofficial title given to the youngest member of a parliamentary house. The term is most often applied to members of the British parliament, from which the term originated. The title is named after the Father of the Hou ...

for the 2018–22 parliament, as well as the first member of parliament to be born after the

End of Socialism in Hungary Communist rule in the People's Republic of Hungary came to an end in 1989 by a peaceful transition to a democratic system. After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was suppressed by Soviet forces, Hungary remained a communist country. As the So ...

. Later, following the fiasco of the 2019 European Parliament elections, he agreed with

András Schiffer András Schiffer (born 19 June 1971 in Budapest) is a Hungarian lawyer and former politician, who served as co-president of the Politics Can Be Different and leader of its parliamentary group. Schiffer announced his retirement from politics on ...

, a founding member and former co-chair of LMP, that LMP's story was over and that they deserved to lose. At the same time, he was confident that a new story could begin. Ungár was the only opposition politician to take up the opportunity to debate with politicians from the governing parties at the Bálványos Free Summer University and Student Camp (more commonly known as Tusványos) in 2019. Ungár is standing in the 2021 Hungarian opposition

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

Szombathely } Szombathely (; ; also see #Etymology, names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas County in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by the streams ''Perint'' and '' ...

in the

Vas County Vas (, ; ; or ; ) is an administrative county (Counties of Hungary, comitatus or ''vármegye'') of Hungary. It was also one of the counties of the former Kingdom of Hungary. It is part of the Centrope Project. Geography Vas County lies in weste ...

1 parliamentary constituency. Ungár was elected male co-chair of the LMP – Hungary's Green Party in August 2022.

Media portfolio

In 2016, Ungár started to build a media portfolio, his first independent news portal was ''Reflektor'', run through the Fényszóró Média Alapítvány. In 2018, he conducted serious, but ultimately unsuccessful, negotiations with

Lajos Simicska Lajos Simicska (born 28 January 1960) is a former Hungarian business magnate, a former politician of Fidesz, and he was the head of APEH, Hungary's internal revenue service between 1998–1999, during the first government of Viktor Orbán. He w ...

on the acquisition of

Magyar Nemzet ''Magyar Nemzet'' ('', '') is a major Hungarian newspaper published in Hungary, and styled itself as "close to the current Hungarian government led by Viktor Orbán" as of 2019. History and profile ''Magyar Nemzet'', a moderate conservative d ...

Lánchíd Rádió Lánchíd Rádió (lit. "'' Chain Bridge Radio''") was a privately owned radio station in Hungary. It began broadcasting 15 March 2007 and offered news, reports, interviews, cultural programs and popular music. It is Hungary's 10th most listened r ...

and

Heti Válasz ''Heti Válasz'' () is a conservative online publication in Hungary. History and profile ''Heti Válasz'' was established in 2001. It is published weekly on Thursdays and is headquartered in Budapest. The magazine covers news on politics, econ ...

. Later the same year, his 90 percent stake in Azonnali Média Kft. made him majority owner of the national news portal ''Azonnali.hu.'' He also started to build up his rural media network, acquiring ''egerugyek.hu'' in

Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights, Eger is best known for Castle of Eger, its ...

, ''9970.hu'' in

Szentgotthárd Szentgotthárd () is the westernmost town of Hungary. It is situated on the Rába River near the Austrian border. History The town took its name from, and grew up round, the Cistercian Szentgotthárd Abbey, founded here in 1183. In 1664, it was ...

, ''ugytudjuk.hu'' in Szombathely, and ''kpsvr.hu'' in

Kaposvár Kaposvár (; also known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in southwestern Hungary, south of Lake Balaton. It is one of the leading cities of Transdanubia, the capital of Somogy County, and the seat of the Kaposvár District and th ...

Finances

According to the tax returns of 2018, Ungár had assets of 15 billion HUF (€41 million), which consisted of family businesses and property rights to magazines. He owned 17 percent of the joint venture Pió-21 Kft with his brother and mother, with his family also owning 90 percent of shares in Budapesti Ingatlan Nyrt, with Ungár himself owning three percent.

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

ranked his family fourth in the 2020 list of the largest Hungarian family companies.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ungár, Péter 1991 births Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Central European University alumni Hungarian LGBTQ businesspeople Hungarian geographers Living people Hungarian gay men Hungarian LGBTQ politicians Gay businessmen LMP – Hungary's Green Party politicians Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2018–2022) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2022–2026) Politicians from Budapest University of Cantabria alumni Transylvanian Saxon people Hungarian people of Jewish descent