Hungarian Democratic People's Party

The Hungarian Democratic People's Party (Hungarian: Magyar Demokrata Néppárt; MDNP) was a political party in Hungary between 1996 and 2005.

Hungarian Democratic People's Party Magyar Demokrata Néppárt
Leader	Iván Szabó
Founded	4 March 1996
Dissolved	2 April 2005
Split from	Hungarian Democratic Forum
Merged into	Hungarian Democratic Forum
Ideology	Conservatism Christian democracy
Political position	Centre-right
Politics of Hungary Political parties Elections

History

The national conservative party formed on 4 March 1996, when Iván Szabó and his supporters left Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) following Szabó's defeat against Sándor Lezsák at the party leadership election. 15 MPs, including several prominent politicians, such as György Szabad, Géza Jeszenszky 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. Under her leadership, the party joined the moderate centre alliance of Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP), Alliance of Green Democrats (ZDSZ) and Third Way for Hungary (HOM), which formed Centre Party (Hungarian: Centrum). Mihály Kupa's alliance won 3.9% of the popular vote and no seats at the 2002 parliamentary election.[1]

József Szabó was elected the new president of the MDNP in June 2002.[2] MDNP supported MDF at 2004 European Parliament election.[3] 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.[4] the Hungarian Democratic People's Party re-merged with the Hungarian Democratic Forum on 2 April 2005.[5]

Presidents of the MDNP

• Iván Szabó (1996–1998)
• Erzsébet Pusztai (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

• Iván Szabó, Minister of Finance (1993–1994)

Deputy Leaders

• Erzsébet Pusztai, later President of the MDNP (1998–2002)
• György Raskó agrarian entrepreneur
• György Szabad, Speaker of the National Assembly (1990–1994)

Members

• Etelka Barsi-Pataky, Member of the European Parliament (2004–2009)
• László Bogár economist, publicist
• Gabriella Farkas jurist
• Géza Jeszenszky, Minister of Foreign Affairs (1990–1994)
• Tamás Katona, Mayor of Budavár (1994–1998)
• Imre Kónya, Minister of the Interior (1993–1994)
• Katalin Kónya-Kutrucz jurist, wife of Imre Kónya
• Ferenc Kulin, Leader of the MDF parliamentary group (1993–1994)
• Tamás Szabó, Minister for Privatisation (1992–1994)
• Tihamér Tóth jurist
• Attila Zsigmond, Director-General of Budapest Gallery

Electoral results

National Assembly

Election year	National Assembly				Government
	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/–
1998	62,568	1.4 % (#9)	0 / 386	15	extra-parliamentary
2002^1	219,029	3.9 % (#5)	0 / 386	0	extra-parliamentary

¹ MDNP was a member of the alliance of Centre Party

References

1. "Újraosztják a pártpénzeket". 2002-05-22. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
2. "Új elnök az MDNP élén". 2002-06-01. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
3. "Az MDF a kisgazdákkal indul az EP választáson". 2004-01-19. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
4. "Szétesett a Centrum párt". 2005-01-04. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
5. "Egyesült az MDF és az MDNP". 2005-04-09. Retrieved 2014-12-05.