Election Resources on the Internet: Elections to the Hungarian National Assembly, Parts I and II

On April 9-23, 2006, the Republic of Hungary held its fifth parliamentary election since 1989, when the country made a peaceful transition to democracy after more than four decades of Communist rule. An overview of the electoral system used to choose members of the National Assembly - Hungary's unicameral legislature - is presented here; the Central European country's multi-party system be reviewed in Part III of this presentation.

National- and regional-level results are available here for the following parliamentary elections:

April 9-23, 2006	Results	Election Map

April 7-21, 2002	Results	Election Map

May 10-24, 1998	Results	Election Map

May 8-29, 1994	Results	Election Map

March 25-April 8, 1990	Results	Election Map

The election statistics presented in this space come from official results published by Hungary's National Election Office.

Hungary's unicameral Parliament, the National Assembly, is composed of 386 members directly elected by universal adult suffrage for a four-year term of office. A total of 176 seats are filled in single-member constituencies by the runoff voting system, while up to 152 seats are distributed by proportional representation in twenty regional, multi-member constituencies - Hungary's nineteen counties plus the capital city of Budapest - and at least 58 seats are allocated on a national list to compensate parties for disparities between the distribution of votes and National Assembly constituency seats. Electors cast two votes: one for a single-member constituency candidate, and another for a regional party list; the votes are cast on separate ballots. Regional party lists are closed, so electors may not choose individual candidates in or alter the order of such lists; no votes are cast for the national list. Political parties may submit lists of candidates in regional constituencies where they have candidates in at least one-quarter (but no fewer than two) of the multi-member constituency's single-member constituencies. Likewise, parties with lists of candidates in at least seven regional constituencies may submit a national list.

Single-member constituency candidates who obtain an absolute majority of valid votes cast are elected in the first round. Otherwise, a runoff election is held two weeks later among candidates polling at least fifteen percent of the vote; if no candidates meet this requirement, the runoff is held between the top three candidates. In the second round, the candidate that obtains the largest number of votes is elected to office. Meanwhile, regional constituency seats are allocated by the Hagenbach-Bischoff method among parties polling at least five percent of the nationwide vote; for joint party lists, the threshold increases to ten percent for lists established by two parties, and to fifteen percent for lists presented by three or more parties. In each regional constituency, an electoral quota is calculated by dividing the total number of valid votes by the number of seats to be allocated plus one. The number of votes polled by each party is then divided by the electoral quota, and the result, disregarding fractions, equals the initial number of mandates allocated to the party. If one or more seats remain unfilled, qualifying parties with a remainder equal to or larger than two-thirds of the quota receive an additional seat; any remaining seats are transferred to the national list.

However, constituency results (single-member or regional) are not deemed valid unless a minimum percent of registered electors takes part in the election. First round results are invalidated when turnout stands at fifty percent of the electorate or less; in such instances, a second round of voting is held in the constituency, in which all candidates or lists taking part in the first round may participate. Meanwhile, second round results are deemed invalid unless the turnout rate is more than twenty-five percent of the electorate. Single-member seats in constituencies with invalid runoff results are subsequently filled in by-elections, while unfilled regional seats following an invalid second round of voting are added to the national list.

Finally, national list seats are distributed by the largest average method (also known as the d'Hondt rule) among parties that qualify for the distribution of regional constituency seats, according to their surplus vote totals; these equal the sum of votes cast in the first valid round of voting for single-member constituency party candidates who are not elected in either round, plus unused party list votes from the first valid round (or first round totals for regional constituencies in which both rounds are invalid), minus the difference between the full quota and the party's unused list vote total in regional constituencies where a seat is allocated under the two-thirds quota provision.