The Unity Party ( hu, Egységes Párt) was the

ruling party The ruling party or governing party in a democratic parliamentary or presidential system is the political party or coalition holding a majority of elected positions in a parliament, in the case of parliamentary systems, or holding the executive ...

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

from 1922 to 1944. It was founded in early 1922, and in the same year they won a electoral landslide in the

parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. Initially, the party was

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

and agrarian but in the early 1930s its

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

faction grew to become the largest, and shortly after they established a militia. The main leader of the fascist faction was Gyula Gömbös, who served as the prime minister from 1932 to 1936. When he came to power, the party was renamed to National Unity Party ( hu, Nemzeti Egység Pártja). Gömbös declared the party's intention to achieve "total control of the nation's social life". In the 1935 Hungarian Election, Gömbös promoted the creation of a "unitary Hungarian nation with no class distinctions". The party won a huge majority of the seats of the Hungarian parliament in the Hungarian election of May 1939.Peter F. Sugar, Péter Hanák. ''A History of Hungary.'' First paperback edition. Bloomington, Indiana, USA: Indiana University Press, 1994. Pp. 341. It won 72 percent of the parliament's seats and won 49 percent of the popular vote in the election.Georgi Karasimeonov. Cleavages, parties, and voters: studies from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999. p. 70. This was a major breakthrough for the

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

in Hungary. The party promoted nationalist propaganda and some of its members sympathized with the Nazi

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 ...

. In 1939, the party was renamed to the Party of Hungarian Life ( hu, Magyar Élet Pártja). It was also called "the Government Party" since it was the governing party of the Kingdom of Hungary during the existence of the Horthy era. A faction of the most pro-Nazi members led by the party's former leader

Béla Imrédy Béla vitéz Imrédy de Ómoravicza ( hu, Vitéz ómoraviczai Imrédy Béla; 29 December 1891 in Budapest – 28 February 1946 in Budapest) was Prime Minister of Hungary from 1938 to 1939. Born in Budapest to a Catholic family, Imrédy studied ...

split from the party October 1940 to form the (''Magyar Megújulás Pártja'') that sought to explicitly "solve" the "

Jewish Problem The Jewish question, also referred to as the Jewish problem, was a wide-ranging debate in 19th- and 20th-century European society that pertained to the appropriate status and treatment of Jews. The debate, which was similar to other " national ...

Electoral results

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 ...

References

{{Authority control Christian political parties in Hungary Conservative parties in Hungary Defunct political parties in Hungary Far-right political parties in Hungary Political parties established in 1922 Catholic political parties National conservative parties Nationalist parties in Hungary Fascist parties