Hungarian Alliance (Slovak political party)

The Hungarian Alliance (Slovak: Maďarská Aliancia; Hungarian: Magyar Szövetség, Szövetség–Aliancia) is a political party in Slovakia for the ethnic Hungarian minority, previously known simply as the "Alliance", it was founded when "Party of the Hungarian Community" and Most–Híd merged into "Hungarian Community Togetherness". It is led by former SMK-MKP leader, Krisztián Forró.^[13]

Hungarian Alliance Maďarská Aliancia (Slovak) Magyar Szövetség (Hungarian)
Abbreviation	Szövetség–Aliancia
Chairman	Krisztián Forró
Deputy Chairman	György Gyimesi Örs Orosz
Founder	Béla Bugár (SMK-MKP) Edit Bauer Gábor Zászlós (MKÖ-MKS)
Founded	1994/2023^[a]
Merger of	Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement Coexistence Hungarian Civic Party (SMK-MKP)
Preceded by	MKÖ-MKS (Alliance, legally)^[1]
Headquarters	Čajakova 4048/8 811 05 Bratislava
Membership (2021)	14,127^[2]
Ideology	Hungarian minority interests^[3] Hungarian nationalism^[4] National conservatism^[5] Pro-Europeanism^[6]
Political position	Centre-right^[6]
European affiliation	European People's Party
Colours	Orange
Slogan	«Hungarians. Nationalities. Regions.» (Hungarian: «Magyarok. Nemzetiségek. Regiók.») (Slovak: «Maďari. Národnosti. Regióny.»)
National Council	0 / 150
European Parliament	0 / 14
Regional governors^[b]	0 / 8
Regional deputies^[9]^[c]	70 / 419
Mayors^[d]	263 / 2,904
Local councillors^[e]	1,765 / 20,523
Website
www.madarska-aliancia.sk www.szovetseg.sk
Politics of Slovakia Political parties Elections 1994 as Hungarian Coalition, 22 May 1998 as SMK-MKP, 22 October 2019 as MKÖ-MKS, 2 October 2021 as Alliance and 9 December 2023 as Hungarian Alliance Independent politicians Rastislav Trnka [sk], the governor of the Košice Region, and Ondrej Lunter, the governor of the Banská Bystrica Region, were backed by the party.^[7]^[8] Including 16 deputies nominated by HLAS–SD/SMER–SD in the Prešov Region backed by the Alliance.^[10] In addition, they also endorsed 11 deputies in the Žilina Region.^[11] Including 41 mayors elected in coalitions.^[8] Including 69 councillors elected in coalitions.^[12]

History

Party of the Hungarian Coalition

 

Logo of the Party of the Hungarian Coalition

The SMK-MKP party was founded as Party of the Hungarian Coalition (Hungarian: Magyar Koalíció Pártja, Slovak: Strana maďarskej koalície) in 1998 in response to an anti-coalition law passed. The law prevented parties from forming electoral cartels at election time, which small parties had used to overcome the 5% electoral threshold. Three parties representing the Hungarian minority had formed such a cartel, called 'Hungarian Coalition' in the 1994 election, and had won 10.2% of the vote. To comply with the new law, the three parties – the Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement, Coexistence, and the Hungarian Civic Party – merged to form the Party of the Hungarian Coalition.^{[citation needed]}

Following the 2002 parliamentary election in Slovakia, the Party of the Hungarian Coalition joined the Slovak governing coalition for the second time (after the 1998–2002 term), obtained 321,069 votes (11.16% of all votes), and was the most stable political party in the governing coalition. At the EU parliament election in 2004 the party won 13.24% of the vote.^{[citation needed]}

The party had 4 ministers (Pál Csáky – Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration and Minority Rights, László Miklós – Minister of Environment, László Gyurovszky – Minister of Construction and Regional Development and Zsolt Simon – Minister of Agriculture) and 6 state secretaries (Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Construction and Regional Development) in the Slovak government. Béla Bugár, the president of the Party of the Hungarian Coalition at that time, was the Vice President of the National Council of the Slovak Republic.^{[citation needed]}

In the parliamentary election of 17 June 2006, the party won 11.7% of the popular vote and 20 out of 150 seats, but lost its participation in the government.^{[citation needed]}

Decline

 

Logo of the Party of the Hungarian Community

In 2009, a moderate faction led by high-ranking SMK-MKP members founded Most–Híd. In the parliamentary election of 12 June 2010, the party missed the 5% border needed for participation in parliament by receiving 4.33% and lost its position in parliament. The SMK-MKP also proved unable to obtain 5% of the votes in the 2012 parliamentary election. On 22 September 2012, the party was renamed to Party of the Hungarian Community (Hungarian: Magyar Közösség Pártja, Slovak: Strana maďarskej komunity).

In the 2014 European elections, SMK–MKP came in seventh place nationally, receiving 6.53% of the vote and electing 1 MEP.^[14] In the 2019 European elections, SMK–MKP fell just short of the 5% threshold with 4.96% thus losing their MEP.

Hungarian Community Togetherness

Összefogás–Spolupatričnosť (Unity) was founded in the autumn of 2019, citing disputes between the Hungarian parties as a reason for its formation, which could have caused the Hungarian minority not to be represented on the National Council after the 2020 Slovak parliamentary elections. Former Member of the European Parliament for SMK-MKP, Edit Bauer, and former Deputy Chairman of Hungarian Civic Party (MNI), Gábor Zászlós, were instrumental in the formation of the party.^[15]

In connection with the upcoming parliamentary elections, the members of Összefogás–Spolupatričnosť negotiated an electoral cooperation with four other ethnic Hungarian parties (Most–Híd, SMK-MKP, MKDA-MKDSZ, MF-MF).^[16][17] On 24 November 2019, Összefogás–Spolupatričnosť approved the joint action of the Hungarian parties in the parliamentary elections. Összefogás–Spolupatričnosť was then transformed into MKÖ-MKS, and gained 30 seats on the candidate list. Szabolcs Mózes, the party president, ran second on the list, Örs Orosz, the party vice president, ran sixth, and József Nagy, a former member of the European Parliament, ran ninth. Mózes stated that they were joining to ensure the representation of the Hungarian minority and to contribute to the change of government and the removal of the SMER-SD party from power.^[18] Eventually, SMK-MKP and the Hungarian Forum agreed to run on the Összefogás–Spolupatričnosť list which renamed themselves to Hungarian Community Togetherness (Hungarian: Magyar Közösségi Összefogás, Slovak: Maďarská komunitná spolupatričnosť; MKÖ-MKS). They only reached 3.91% and Most–Híd got 2.05% in the 2020 parliamentary election. This was the first election, in which no Hungarian minority party reached the 5% threshold.

After their failure, MKÖ-MKS, SMK-MKP, and Most–Híd entered into negotiations about further cooperation. On 20 August 2020, they signed a declaration of cooperation in Komárno, a town in southwestern Slovakia.^[19] In March 2021, they announced that the negotiations had been successful, and that a new party "Szövetség – Aliancia" would be established. The new party would have three officers: a chairman nominated by SMK-MKP, a chairman of the Republican Council nominated by Most–Híd, and the post of expert vice-chairman nominated by MKÖ-MKS.^[20]

Alliance

 

Former logo of Szövetség–Aliancia

Szövetség–Aliancia was formed by merging the parties SMK-MKP, Most–Híd, and MKÖ-MKS at the assembly in Šamorín on 2 October 2021.^[21] The assembly was preceded by two years of negotiations between five Hungarian political parties about the possibility of cooperation. The goal of joining forces was declared as a return to parliament after the next election, or to be part of the governing coalition.^[21] SMK-MKP continued to exist as a faction within Alliance under the backronym Hungarian Conservative Platform (Hungarian: Magyar Konzervatív Platform, MKP).

Krisztián Forró, the then-chairman of the SMK-MKP, became the chairman of the party, and the then-chairman of MKÖ-MKS, Szabolcs Mózes, was elected vice-chairman.^[21] In addition, the chairman of the Republican Council, László Sólymos, the then-chairman of the Most–Híd party, was elected, as well as the vice-chairman and chairmen of the platforms, members of the republican presidency, republican committee and mandatory commissions.^[21] Sólymos said: "We have laid the foundations for the political, parliamentary representation of the Hungarians, the nationalities and the regions in which we live".^[21] The Alliance declared that it would negotiate cooperation with all Slovak parties, such as support for the EU, NATO, and Visegrad Four membership, but would not cooperate with extremist parties like the People's Party Our Slovakia and Direction – Slovak Social Democracy.^[21][20]

In 2023, a few months before the election, however Most–Híd left the united party again over a dispute about allowing former OĽaNO MP György Gyimesi on the list.^[22] Leaving only the SMK-MKP and Összefogás factions in the party.

On the December 9, 2023 congress, the name of the party was changed to Hungarian Alliance, platforms were abolished and Gyimesi, who joined the party a few days earlier, became deputy chairman.^[23]

International affiliations

SMK-MKP was said to be an ally of the right-wing ruling party of Hungary Fidesz.^[24] The party became a member of the European People's Party (EPP) on 7 June 2000 and later their MEPs joined European People's Party group to which Fidesz belonged too. They also shared their affiliation to the Centrist Democrat International.

After the split and formation of Most–Híd, Fidesz maintained close ties to SMK-MKP.^[25] After Fidesz' victory in the 2018 Hungarian parliamentary election József Menyhárt called it "good news" for ethnic Hungarian communities.^[26] In the 2019 European Parliament election Viktor Orban even publicly endorsed SMK-MKP.^[27][28] Like their predecessors SMK-MKP and MKÖ-MKS, Alliance is a member of EPP and an observer of the CDI.

Organisation

The primary party organisations made up the basis of the party. By the end of March 2003, the number of these local organisations of SMK-MKP was 521 and the number of members was 10,983. The party congress was the highest body of the party. Between two congresses the highest body of the party is the National Council.

Each elected functionary and body gets elected in form of democratic, secret elections. The party leadership of the districts co-ordinates the work of local institutions within district.

Between 1998 and 2007 the chairman of SMK-MKP was Béla Bugár. The Chairman of the National Council was Zsolt Komlósy, the Parliamentary Group Leader was Gyula Bárdos and Executive Deputy Chairman was Miklós Duray. Pál Csáky was the chairman of the Minister's Club.

On 31 March 2007 Pál Csáky was elected for chairman by the assembly of party, thus succeeding the more moderate Béla Bugár.^[29]

Béla Bugár established the party Most–Híd on 30 June 2009, stating that Csáky was too nationalist. His new party (its name meaning "bridge" in Hungarian and Slovak) wants to emphasise cooperation between Hungarians and Slovaks.^[30]

After the merger, the three former parties remained platforms within the party responsible for upholding the quotas between the factions with MKP hold the largest portion.^[31] After a dispute over the candidacy György Gyimesi, the Most–Híd platform left the party and used the MKDA-MKDSZ party to regain their party status under the new name "Most–Híd 2023".

Party of the Hungarian Coalition

Chairmen

• Béla Bugár (1998–2007)
• Pál Csáky (2007–2010)
• József Berényi (2010–2016)
• József Menyhárt (2016–2020)^[32]
• Krisztián Forró (2020–2021)

Vice-chairmen

• József Berényi (2020–2021)
• Iván Farkas (2020–2021)
• Zoltán Ciprusz (2020–2021)

Chairmen of the National Council

• Péter Köpöncei (2020–2021)

Hungarian Community Togetherness

Chairmen

• Szabolcs Mózes (2019–2021)

Vice-chairmen

• Örs Orosz (2019–2021)

Alliance

Chairman

• Krisztián Forró (2021–2023)

Vice-chairman

• Szabolcs Mózes (2021–2023)

Chairmen of the National Council

• László Sólymos (2021–2023)
• Péter Pandy (2023)

Hungarian Alliance

Chairman

• Krisztián Forró (2023–)

Vice-chairmen

• György Gyimesi (2023–)
• Örs Orosz (2023–)

Chairman of the National Council

• Péter Pandy (2023–)

Election results

National Council

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
Hungarian Coalition (MKDM–E–MPP)
1994	292,936	10.19 (#3)	17 / 150	New	Opposition
Party of the Hungarian Coalition
1998	306,623	9.12 (#4)	15 / 150	2	Coalition
2002	321,069	11.16 (#4)	20 / 150	5	Coalition
2006	269,111	11.68 (#4)	20 / 150	0	Opposition
2010	109,638	4.33 (#7)	0 / 150	20	Extra-parliamentary
2012	109,484	4.28 (#8)	0 / 150	0	Extra-parliamentary
Party of the Hungarian Community
2016	105,495	4.05 (#10)	0 / 150	0	Extra-parliamentary
Hungarian Community Togetherness
2020	112,662	3.90 (#9)	0 / 150	0	Extra-parliamentary
Alliance
2023	130,183	4.39 (#9)	0 / 150	0	Extra-parliamentary

European Parliament

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Party of the Hungarian Coalition
2004	92,927	13.24 (#5)	2 / 14
2009	93,750	11.33 (#3)	2 / 13
Party of the Hungarian Community
2014	36,629	6.53 (#7)	1 / 13	1
2019	48,929	4.96 (#7)	0 / 13	1

President

Election	Candidate	1st round			2nd round
		Votes	%	Rank	Votes	%	Rank
Party of the Hungarian Coalition
1999	Endorsed Rudolf Schuster	1,396,950	47.4%	1st	1,727,481	57.2%	1st
2004	Endorsed Eduard Kukan	438,920	22.1%	3rd	eliminated
2009	Endorsed Iveta Radičová	713,735	38.1%	2nd	988,808	44.5%	2nd
Party of the Hungarian Community
2014	Gyula Bárdos	97,035	5.1%	5th	eliminated
2019	József Menyhárt^[a]	1,208	0.1%	15th	eliminated
	Endorsed Robert Mistrík^[a]	3,318	0.2%	14th
Hungarian Alliance
2024	Krisztián Forró	65,588	2.91%	4th	eliminated

Footnotes

1. Candidate withdrew, but was still on the ballot.

1. "Register of Political Parties and Political Movements". ives.minv.sk. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
2. "Výročná správa politickej strany: Aliancia" (PDF). Ministry of the Interior (Slovakia) (in Slovak). 2021. p. 6.
3. "Maďarské strany potvrdili spoluprácu podpisom memoranda". Pravda.sk (in Slovak). 28 November 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
4. "Maďarská Aliancia sa stala prirodzeným spojencom Fica a fašistov". plus.noviny.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 21 December 2023.
5. "Parties and Elections in Europe". www.parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
6. "Slovakia". Europe Elects. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
7. Jabrik, Peter; Jurkovičová, Klaudia (30 October 2022) [29 October 2022]. "Voľby 2022: Županom Košického samosprávneho kraja bude naďalej Trnka" [Elections 2022: Trnka will remain the mayor of the Košice Self-Governing Region]. Korzár (in Slovak). Košice. Retrieved 30 October 2022. Súčasný župan Trnka teraz svoj mandát obhájil opäť ako nezávislý, ale už bez podpory OĽaNO a SaS, no s politickým krytím strán KDH, Aliancia - Maďari, Starostovia a nezávislí kandidáti, Šanca a DS. [The current mayor, Trnka, has now defended his mandate again as an independent, without the support of OĽaNO and SaS, but with the political backing of the parties KDH, Alliance - Hungarians, Mayors and Independent Candidates, Šanca and DS.]
8. Tornyai, Bianka (30 October 2022). "Forró Krisztián: "Az ország egyik legerősebb pártja a Szövetség!"" [Krisztián Forró: "The Alliance is one of the strongest parties in the country!"]. Új Szó (in Hungarian). Galanta. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
9. Pomichal, Krisztián (30 October 2022). "Történelmi siker a megyei választásokon: Önálló pártszínekben a Szövetség adja a legtöbb megyei képviselőt" [Historic success in the regional elections: the Alliance gives the most regional deputies among individual parties]. ma7 (in Hungarian). Retrieved 30 October 2022. A korábbi, összesen 42 megyei testületi pozíció a következő négy évben 54 főre duzzad. [The previous total of 42 regional council posts will swell to 54 for the next four years.]
10. Pomichal, Krisztián (30 October 2022). "Történelmi siker a megyei választásokon: Önálló pártszínekben a Szövetség adja a legtöbb megyei képviselőt" [Historic success in the regional elections: the Alliance gives the most regional deputies among individual parties]. ma7 (in Hungarian). Retrieved 30 October 2022. Ráadásul, ha a nem önállóan indított, pusztán támogatott jelölteket is számítjuk, akkor a Szövetség eredménye még szebb, az Eperjesi kerületben 16 plusz mandátummal. Itt a párt a Hlas-SD/Smer-SD jelöltjeit támogatta. [In addition, if we count the candidates who were not nominated but merely supported, the Alliance's result is even better, with 16 extra seats in the Prešov Region. Here the party supported the candidates of Hlas–SD/Smer–SD.]
11. Czímer, Gábor (31 October 2022). "Forró: A szombati választás a Szövetség erejét mutatja (VIDEÓ)" [Forró: Saturday's election shows the strength of the Alliance (VIDEO)]. Új Szó (in Hungarian). Retrieved 31 October 2022.
12. "263 polgármesterünk és 1765 önkormányzati képviselőnk van" [We have 263 mayors and 1765 local councillors]. Szövetség (in Hungarian). 30 October 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
13. "Predsedom Aliancie-Szövetség sa stal Forró, doterajší predseda SMK". Pravda.sk (in Slovak). 2 October 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
14. . Archived from the original on 28 May 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
15. Teraz.sk (2 September 2019). "Vzniká nové hnutie Spolupatričnosť, sú za ním aj členovia SMK". TERAZ.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 17 December 2022.
16. Mikušovič, Dušan (18 October 2019). "Maďarské strany sa dohodli na spoločnej kandidátke s názvom "Strana regiónov Most MK"". Denník N (in Slovak). Retrieved 17 December 2022.
17. Teraz.sk (23 October 2019). "B. Bugár: Rozhodnutie SMK berieme na vedomie". TERAZ.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 17 December 2022.
18. "Hnutie Spolupatričnosť schválilo spoločný". Denník N (in Slovak). 24 November 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
19. a.s, Petit Press. "Maďarské strany dolaďujú dohodu o spolupráci v jednej strane". domov.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 17 December 2022.
20. TASR. "Dianie v opozícii / Maďarské strany sa zjednotili do strany Aliancia". www.postoj.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 17 December 2022.
21. "Na Slovensku pribudla nová politická strana Aliancia - Szövetség. Vznikla zlúčením viacerých subjektov". www.noviny.sk (in Slovak). 2 October 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
22. "PÁRTSZAKADÁS: A Híd kilép a Szövetségből". 16 May 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
23. "A Magyar Szövetség kongresszusa megerősítette Forró Krisztián elnöki pozícióját - VIDEÓKKAL".
24. "Ergebnisse der Europawahlen in Ungarn". www.kas.de. 27 May 2019.
25. "Orbán sa stretáva s SMK, s vládnym Mostom-Híd nekomunikuje". domov.sme.sk. 17 April 2017.
26. Alexandra Béni (10 April 2018). "Election 2018 – Ethnic Hungarian leaders welcome Fidesz election win".
27. "EP-Wahl: Orbán ermutigt in der Slowakei, MKP zu unterstützen". Retrieved 13 June 2023.
28. "Orbán prijal predsedu SMK, vyjadril mu podporu vo voľbách do EP". 22 April 2019.
29. . Respekt. 2 April 2007. Archived from the original on 24 May 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
30. "Neue Partei der "Ungarischen Koalition"". Der Standard (in German). 30 June 2009. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
31. "Az MKP-platform parlamenti képviselőjelöltjeinek teljes listája". Hungarian Conservative Platform (in Hungarian). 13 May 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
32. "Menyhárt József lett az MKP új elnöke". Alfahír. 11 June 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.

External links

• Official site of Hungarian Alliance (in Slovak)
• Official site of Hungarian Alliance (in Hungarian)