Hungary: 2022 general election

On 11 January 2022 Hungarian President Janos Ader set 3 April 2022 as the date of Hungary’s general election, to elect members to the 199-seat National Assembly.

The election was primarily a contest between incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition and the alliance of six leading opposition parties, the United for Hungary coalition.

The election campaign formally began on 14 February and initially focused on domestic matters. However, the campaign was derailed with the commencement of Russian military operations in Ukraine (which shares a border with Hungary) on 24 February.

This issue soon dominated the election and Orbán’s historic support of Russian President Vladimir Putin was quickly highlighted by the opposition. However, despite widespread anger at Putin’s aggression, many voters were more fearful of getting caught up in the conflict and there was a reluctance to support an experimental political coalition.

National Assembly election results

Hungary’s National Electoral Commission published the results of the election on 10 April 2022, with Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition securing a majority of votes.

In taking 135 of the 199 seats in the new parliament, Fidesz retained its two-thirds super majority – enabling Orbán to continue pushing through constitutional reform – and easily defeated the six-party opposition coalition.

This opposition bloc, United for Hungary, came second with 57 seats in the new parliament. Results showed the opposition performed strongly in the capital Budapest, but Fidesz dominated the rest of the country.

Our Homeland Movement (Mi Hazank Mozgalom), described as a far-right political party, won seats for the first time, taking six in the new parliament. Support for the party grew during the COVID pandemic as it was the only party against vaccines. The party also benefitted from Jobbik supporters seemingly switching their vote to the Movement, rather than voting for the United for Hungary coalition. Some former Jobbik supporters may also have switched to Fidesz, enabling it to increase its share of the vote.

The National Self-Government of Germans in Hungary (NMOÖ) party repeated its 2018 electoral success and again won one seat in the parliament. This party, the nationwide organisation representing the heritage and traditions of the German minority, benefitted from the low threshold required for parties representing the various national minorities to gain seats in the National Assembly.

There were 66,125 blank or invalid votes, with turnout at 69.59%.

Background to the Hungarian general election

Hungary has a unicameral parliament: the Országgyülés (National Assembly). Hungarian citizens over the age of 18 are entitled to vote and to stand in elections. There were 8,211,065 Hungarians registered to vote in 2022, with 664 candidates contesting the election.

Hungary uses a mixed-member majoritarian voting system, with the electorate having two votes.

106 members are elected through first-past-the-post in single-member constituencies; the remaining 93 seats are decided by a closed list PR system in a single nationwide constituency, using the D’Hondt method.

As well as electing members of the National Assembly on 3 April, Hungarians voted in a referendum on questions related to new laws on the promotion of LGBT+ topics to minors.