An election of Members of the European Parliament from Hungary to the European Parliament was held on 26 May 2019, electing the 21 members of the Hungary delegation to the European Parliament as part of the European elections held across the European Union.

Electoral system

Date of the vote European Parliament Elections are held every five years in the European Union. The vote had to take place from 23 to 26 May 2019, but the member states could set the exact date. Since Hungarian law states elections can only take place on a Sunday, the only possible date was 26 May 2019. Accordingly, President János Áder announced on 4 March 2019 that the vote would be held on 26 May.

Background Fidesz During early 2019, the Hungarian government launched a poster campaign targeting European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros. The government campaign accuses Juncker and Soros of wanting “to weaken member states’ rights to protect their own borders” and claims “they want ...migrants’ visas”. Due to the poster campaign, some members of the European People's Party (EPP), which the Hungarian governing party Fidesz is a member of, started moves to remove it from the group.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, called those who were calling for his removal from the EPP "Useful idiots".” In response to the political ad campaign, Manfred Weber, Spitzenkandidat of the EPP demanded Orbán apologize for and renounce the criticism levied against the EU by him and his party or face Fidesz's suspension from the EPP.

On 20 March 2019, the European People's Party voted to suspend the membership of Fidesz citing its anti-immigration stance, and personal attacks on Jean-Claude Juncker and George Soros. Prime Minister and Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán had threatened to pull out of the EPP if it was suspended.

Parties contesting According to election law, Hungary consists of a single election district and all parties that collect 20,000 valid signatures from eligible citizens are put on the ballot. By the deadline (23 April 2019, 16:00), eleven parties or party alliances had submitted signature lists. Of those, two parties were refused registration, lacking a sufficient number of valid signatures : the United Hungarian National People's Party (EMNP) and the Tea Party Hungary (TPM).Kilenc listára lehet majd szavazni az EP-választáson – Index.hu, 2019-04-25. Nine qualified lists were approved by the National Election Committee (NVB) to be put on the ballot, of which two of them are shared lists. All parties represented in the Országgyűlés participated in the election, in addition to four extra-parliamentary parties. The parties appeared on the ballot papers in the following randomly drawn order:

+Hungarian parties contesting the 2019 European Parliament electionAbbr.PartyLead candidateLast electionEP affiliationMSZP–PárbeszédHungarian Socialist Party–Dialogue for HungaryBertalan Tóth10.9%+7.25%2+1 seatsS&D+Greens/EFAMKKPHungarian Two Tailed Dog PartyZsuzsanna Dömedid not contestJobbikMovement for a Better HungaryMárton Gyöngyösi14.67%3 seatsNIFidesz–KDNPFidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance–Christian Democratic People's PartyLászló Trócsányi51.48%11+1 seatsEPPMomentumMomentum MovementKatalin Csehdid not contestALDEDKDemocratic CoalitionKlára Dobrev9.75%2 seatsS&DMHOur Homeland MovementLászló Toroczkaidid not contestMunkáspártHungarian Workers' PartyGyula Thürmerdid not contestLMPPolitics Can Be DifferentGábor Vágó5.04%1 seatGreens/EFA

Opinion polling

Polling firm Fieldwork date Fidesz–KDNP MSZP–Párbeszéd DK Jobbik Momentum LMP MKKP MH Lead 2019 election 26 May 2019 52.62 6.62 16.09 6.37 9.83 2.17 2.61 3.30 36.81Nézőpont25 May 2019 55 10 11 9 7 3 2 2 41Politico24 May 2019 55.08 8.51 10.68 9.53 6.02 3.34 3.00 1.53 44.40Publicus16-22 May 2019 52 13 11 13 6 4 1 1 39Medián 15-18 May 2019 52 10.5 10 11.5 5.5 4 3 3 40.5Századvég10-18 May 2019 54.8 7.5 11.8 9.7 6.5 3.2 0 3.2 43MR Center 15 May 2019 42.1 9.5 8.3 9.8 6.2 1.8 3.5 8.3 32.3NézőpontMay 2019 54 10 10 10 6 5 3 2 44Závecz Research4-14 May 2019 53 12 11 12 4 5 2 2 41Idea Institute2-6 May 2019 50 12 9 13 3 5 2 0 37Nézőpont1-26 April 2019 57 10 8 10 5 4 2 2 47Závecz Research15-25 April 2019 57 13 11 6 5 4 2 1 44MR Center 16-26 April 2019 50.30 9.23 10.20 10.35 6.25 3.70 4.70 1.40 49.95Századvég10-21 April 2019 54 10 9 14 4 4 0 2 40Závecz ResearchApril 2019 53 12 9 12 4 4 2 2 44MediánMar-Apr 2019 53 12 8 11 5 7 2 0 41Idea Institute29 Mar-1 Apr 2019 48 12 9 14 6 4 3 2 34Publicus13-20 March 2019 52 15 6 16 6 3 2 0 36Závecz ResearchMarch 2019 50 13 9 14 5 4 1 2 36Nézőpont1-28 March 2019 56 11 6 12 4 5 4 2 44Idea Institute28 Feb-3 Mar 2019 47 12 9 17 4 3 4 2 30Nézőpont31 Jan-22 Feb 2019 54 11 6 13 4 5 4 3 41Nézőpont31 Jan-22 Feb 2019 54 11 6 13 4 5 4 3 41European Parliament5-15 February 2019 53.0 12.3 8.3 13.3 3.7 4.7 1.7 2.0 39.7Závecz Research3-10 February 2019 49 12 9 14 4 4 2 2 35European Parliament 6 February 2019 49.3 13.3 7.2 15.5 5.0 4.5 3.7 1.2 33.8 2014 election 25 May 2014 51.48 10.90 9.75 14.67 – 5.04 – – 36.81

Results

By county and in the diaspora County results in % Fidesz–KDNP DK Momentum MSZP–Párbeszéd Jobbik MH MKKP LMP Munkáspárt Total Votes Cast Turnout Baranya50.13 18.43 9.44 6.63 6.06 3.13 2.89 2.84 0.46 125,673 41.35% Bács-Kiskun58.81 13.43 7.27 5.08 7.05 3.67 2.19 2.10 0.39 166,013 39.80% Békés52.70 16.74 6.80 6.17 8.65 4.09 2.14 2.01 0.46 109,775 38.65% Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén51.65 15.77 5.79 7.15 11.69 4.02 1.82 1.52 0.59 202,268 38.31% Budapest (capital)41.17 19.79 17.35 9.04 3.18 2.32 3.83 2.98 0.34 689,526 52.51% Csongrád49.32 13.89 9.47 11.53 5.38 4.95 2.99 2.07 0.42 145,393 43.90% Fejér53.83 16.01 9.15 5.31 7.03 3.69 2.58 1.98 0.43 148,563 43.38% Győr-Moson-Sopron59.17 13.74 8.44 4.90 5.79 3.26 2.28 2.07 0.35 166,602 46.36% Hajdú-Bihar57.37 14.16 7.96 5.54 7.14 3.17 2.21 1.95 0.47 156,691 36.55% Heves52.63 16.12 7.14 5.83 10.26 3.95 1.88 1.74 0.46 100,093 41.38% Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok53.44 14.95 6.00 6.53 9.60 5.28 1.93 1.58 0.70 113,542 37.42% Komárom-Esztergom50.08 19.65 8.56 5.59 7.34 3.50 2.61 2.22 0.43 101,790 41.40% Nógrád56.90 15.65 5.11 7.27 6.76 4.47 1.57 1.40 0.86 61,936 39.38% Pest51.38 15.55 11.70 5.64 5.29 3.34 3.23 2.54 0.34 449,270 44.20% Somogy55.30 17.22 6.44 5.38 8.90 2.87 1.79 1.67 0.43 102,981 40.70% Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg60.66 13.45 5.32 6.27 8.25 2.92 1.45 1.25 0.42 170,754 38.05% Tolna59.02 14.40 6.63 5.98 6.11 3.53 2.01 1.88 0.43 73,036 40.17% Vas61.03 13.03 7.42 5.63 6.43 2.40 2.01 1.76 0.29 100,169 48.80% Veszprém54.75 15.20 8.22 5.96 7.53 3.50 2.39 2.06 0.38 129,678 45.32% Zala58.13 15.63 6.91 4.84 6.81 3.58 1.86 1.89 0.34 100,565 44.72% Foreign representations41.30 9.60 29.04 6.37 2.29 2.07 5.22 4.00 0.11 17,749 87.47% Diaspora95.97 0.60 0.96 0.45 0.32 0.63 0.58 0.36 0.12 57,777 55.29% Total 52.56 16.05 9.93 6.61 6.34 3.29 2.62 2.18 0.42

European groups

European groupSeats 2014Seats 2019Change European People's Party EPP 1 Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats S&D 1 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe ALDE 0 2 Non-Inscrits NI 2 The Greens–European Free Alliance Greens-EFA 0 2 2121

List of seat winners

On the Fidesz–KDNP list: (EPP Group) László Trócsányi József Szájer Lívia Járóka Tamás Deutsch András Gyürk Kinga Gál György Hölvényi (KDNP) Enikő Győri Ádám Kósa Andrea Bocskor Andor Deli Balázs Hidvéghi Edina Tóth

On the Democratic Coalition list: (S&D) Klára Dobrev Csaba Molnár Sándor Rónai Attila Ara-Kovács

On the Momentum Movement list: (ALDE) Katalin Cseh Anna Donáth

On the Hungarian Socialist Party–Dialogue for Hungary list: (S&D) István Ujhelyi

On the Jobbik list: (Non-inscrits) Márton Gyöngyösi

Analysis

These elections marked the change of balance in Hungarian politics. Although Fidesz-KNDP remained largest and dominant party, but MSZP and Jobbik were replaced by Democratic Coalition and Momentum Movement as leading opposition parties. LMP was wiped off from political sphere. The results of the European elections in Hungary were also viewed with interest for their potential implications in the upcoming local elections in 2019. András Bódis of Válasz Online noted possibility that in some municipalities joint opposition candidates can defeat Fidesz-KNDP candidates.

Notes

References