Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the parliament. The party system since the last elections has been dominated by the conservative Fidesz. The three larger oppositions are Democratic Coalition (DK), Momentum and Jobbik; there are also opposition parties with a small fraction in parliament (e.g. Politics Can Be Different). The judiciary is theoretically independent of the executive and the legislature, but in practice is strongly influenced by the ruling Fidesz Party.[1]
Hungary is an independent state, which has been a member of the European Union since 2004. Since 1989 Hungary has been a parliamentary republic. Legislative power is exercised by the unicameral National Assembly that consists of 199 members. Members of the National Assembly are elected for four years.
In the April 2022 election, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán won a fourth consecutive term in office. His party, Fidesz, secured another two-thirds majority in parliament.[4]
The president of the republic, elected by the National Assembly every five years, has a largely ceremonial role, but they are nominally the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and their powers include the nomination of the prime minister, who is to be elected by a majority of the votes of the members of Parliament, based on the recommendation made by the president of the republic. If the president dies, resigns or is otherwise unable to carry out his duties, the speaker of the National Assembly becomes acting president.
Due to the Hungarian Constitution, based on the post-World War IIBasic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, the prime minister has a leading role in the executive branch as he selects Cabinet ministers and has the exclusive right to dismiss them (similarly to the competences of the German federal chancellor). Each cabinet nominee appears before one or more parliamentary committees in consultative open hearings, survive a vote by the Parliament and must be formally approved by the president.
The unicameral, 199-member National Assembly (Országgyűlés) is the highest organ of state authority and initiates and approves legislation sponsored by the prime minister. Its members are elected for a four-year term. The election threshold is 5%, but it only applies to the multi-seat constituencies and the compensation seats, not the single-seat constituencies.
There are basically two main factions in the Hungarian political system, the right-wing FIDESZ-KDNP coalition, and the center-right to left-wing United for Hungary which consists of the following parties: DK, MSZP, Jobbik, Dialogue, LMP-Greens, Momentum. There are also associate parties and movements such as ÚVNP, Liberals, New Start, MMM movement, 99M movement. There are also some minor parties which are not part of these two coalitions such as the far-right Our Homeland Movement, and the joke party called Hungarian Two Tailed Dog Party. Most of the Hungarian church also is involved with politics.
A fifteen-member Constitutional Court has power to challenge legislation on grounds of unconstitutionality. This body was last filled in July 2010. Members are elected for a term of twelve years. Critics of the ruling coalition contend that since the Hungarian government filled the Constitutional Court with loyal judges, the institution mostly serves to legitimize government interests and has lost its original purpose as democratic defender of the rule of law and of human rights - as several reports of independent human rights NGOs, such as the Hungarian Helsinki Committee emphasize.[7]
The president of the Supreme Court of Hungary (Curia) and the Hungarian civil and penal legal system he leads is fully independent of the Executive Branch.
The attorney general or chief prosecutor of Hungary is currently fully independent of the executive branch, but his status is actively debated.
Several ombudsman offices exist in Hungary to protect civil, minority, educational and ecological rights in non-judicial matters. They have held the authority to issue legally binding decisions since late 2003.
Financial branch
The central bank, the Hungarian National Bank was fully self-governing between 1990 and 2004, but new legislation gave certain appointment rights to the executive branch in November 2004 which is disputed before the Constitutional Court.
