Chapter 11 The 2019 European Parliament Elections in Hungary
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Abstract
Fidesz get its third consecutive two-third majority in the Parliament in the 2018 legislative elections. The runner-up was the radical right-wing Jobbik party which started moderating its tone and policies in 2013. Although the Socialist Party kept the position of the strongest left-wing party, it lost a lot of votes. This balance among the opposition parties changed drastically in the 2019 European elections. First, the centre-left Democratic Coalition – the party of Ferenc Gyurcsány, the former Socialist Prime Minister – became the largest party in the field of the opposition, while Jobbik which almost totally abandoned its Eurosceptic policies got only 6 per cent of the votes, just a bit less than the Socialist Party. On the other hand, an extra-parliamentary liberal party called Momentum Movement made its electoral breakthrough and got 10 per cent. Following the elections, the opposition forces sought for cooperation in the local elections, while the quite controversial rhetoric of Fidesz towards the EU seemed to be softened.