Christian Democratic People's Party Kereszténydemokrata Néppárt | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | KDNP |
| President | Zsolt Semjén |
| Deputy President | |
| Founded | 13 October 1944; 81 years ago (1944-10-13) |
| Legalised | 1989 |
| Preceded by | United Christian Party |
| Headquarters | 1141Budapest, Bazsarózsa utca 69. |
| Youth wing | Young Christian Democratic Alliance |
| Women's wing | Christian Democratic People's Party Women's Wing[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Right-wing[6] |
| Religion | Catholic Church |
| National affiliation | Fidesz–KDNP |
| European affiliation | European People's Party (1994–2024) |
| European Parliament group | EPP Group (2009–2024) PfE (since 2024) |
| International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International |
| Colors | Green and gold |
| Slogan | Több fényt! ('More Light!') |
| National Assembly | 19 / 199 |
| European Parliament | 1 / 21 |
| Website | |
| kdnp.hu | |
TheChristian Democratic People's Party (Hungarian:Kereszténydemokrata Néppárt,[ˈkɛrɛsteːɲdɛmokrɒtɒˈneːpːaːrt],KDNP[ˈkaːdeːɛmpeː]) is aright-wingChristian democratic[3][7]political party in Hungary. It is officially a coalition partner of the ruling party,Fidesz, but is mostly considered asatellite party of Fidesz.[8][9] The party has been unable to get into the Parliament on its own since the 1990s (with the last time it did so being1994), as it was not able to pass theelection threshold of 5% of the vote. Without Fidesz, its support is now low enough that it can no longer be measured,[10][11][12] and even a leading Fidesz politician,János Lázár, stated that Fidesz does not consider the government to be a coalition government.[13]
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The party was founded under the name of KDNP on 13 October 1944 by HungarianCatholic statesmen, intellectuals and clergy, and was a successor to the pre-warUnited Christian Party.[14] Among the founders were BishopVilmos Apor, Béla Kovrig (president of theUniversity of Cluj-Napoca),László Varga [hu], CountJózsef Pálffy,ethnographerSándor Bálint and political journalistIstván Barankovics. It was an offshoot of theCatholic Social Folk Movement (KSzN), a civil organization. At the beginning of 1945 they elected Barankovics as principal secretary.
The new KDNP enjoyed just four or five months of semi-legality towards the end of World War II. At the end of the war, the communist-dominated post-war authorities refused to legalize it or permit it to operate further. Despite attempts by Varga and Barankovics, they were refused official permission to operate and take part in elections. Some of the party's founders, including Varga, were imprisoned for some days by detachments of theArrow Cross Party.
Meanwhile, some party members were saying that Barankovics conceded too much to the communist-influenced authorities in return for too little, and there was growing friction between two factions: the Christian socialist left wing led by Barankovics and the conservative-clerical right wing led byJózsef Mindszenty's confidant, József Pálffy. The left wing gained increasing ascendancy in the party, and on 8 May 1945, Barankovics replaced Pálffy as president. The party changed its name to theDemocratic People's Party (DNP), while a group led by Pálffy founded a new party called KDNP, which, however, failed to remain legal in an atmosphere of increasingSoviet influence. The1947 elections saw the DNP finish second in the popular vote, winning 60 of the 411 seats.[15]
DNP was a democratic and anticommunist organisation. In 1949,Mátyás Rákosi asked Barankovics for the party's leaders to help him in theshow trial against Cardinal Mindszenty, who was already ill in prison. Barankovics refused and, abandoning his party, escaped to Austria in an American diplomat's car. Many people followed his example; others were imprisoned by communists. The party was subsequently dissolved in January 1949.[16]
The party was refounded in 1989 with its present name. The link between the historical party and the present one is disputed, although prominent members of the original party, likeLászló Varga, took part in its refoundation. The party won 21 seats in the1990 parliamentary election and entered the government with theHungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) and theIndependent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party (FKgP) and, later, theUnited Smallholders' Party (EKGP).
In the1994 election, KDNP won 22 seats in the National Assembly and moved into opposition to the new coalition between theHungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and theAlliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ). It lost all of its seats in the1998 election.
In 2002 it formed a joint list with theCentre Party but again it did not manage to win any seats.
In 2005 KDNP signedan agreement withFidesz for election cooperation, a result of which the KDNP obtained seats in the National Assembly. In the 2006 elections this alliance gained strength, winning 42.0% of the list votes and 164 representatives out of 386 in the National Assembly. The party decided to form a self-contained parliamentary faction with 23 representatives.
The Fidesz-KDNP Alliance won the2010 election, with the KDNP increasing its seats to 36; party leaderZsolt Semjén was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for National Politics. The alliance won again in the2014 and2018 election, although KDNP decreased its seats to 16. The party currently holds two ministers in theFourth Orbán Government: party leader Zsolt Semjén (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for National Politics, Church Affairs and Nationalities) andJános Süli (Minister for the planning, construction and commissioning of the two new blocks atPaks Nuclear Power Plant).
The party is considered by many to have become a satellite party of Fidesz.[17] Without Fidesz, its support cannot be measured,[18][19][20] and even a leading Fidesz politician,János Lázár stated in 2011 that Fidesz does not consider the government to be a coalition government.[21]
KDNP was a member of theEuropean People's Party (EPP) until 2024. Although its ally Fidesz's membership has been suspended on 20 March 2019, and itsMEPs left theEuropean People's Party group on 3 March 2021, KDNP retained its European affiliation and their only MEPGyörgy Hölvényi remained the sole member of the EPP group from Hungary thereafter.[22] In response to the admission ofTisza Party to EPP following the2024 European Parliament election, the KDNP decided to leave EPP and its parliamentary group on 18 June 2024, denouncing a betrayal ofChristian Democratic values by the EPP; it subsequently joinedPatriots for Europe alongside Fidesz.[23]
| Part ofa series on |
| Conservatism in Hungary |
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Organisations |
KDNP is a right-wing, conservative Christian democratic party. It is well known in Hungary for its traditional-marriage,anti-abortion and anti-immigration stance, and its representatives voted against theTreaty establishing a Constitution for Europe because it did not refer to Europe's Christian heritage, although the party does not consider itselfEurosceptic.[24] The party emphasisestraditional values on issues like abortion, family law, education and the role of the church more than Fidesz, which takes a more secular position.[25]
KDNP has supported the severe restriction onSunday shopping ("free Sunday", as they called) for a long time, citing Christian values. Parliament voted on the issue on December 14, 2014[26] and the law came into effect on March 15, 2015[27] (a Sunday on which shops would have been closed anyway, the day being apublic holiday in Hungary). Public opinion was predominantly against the decision. Three polls done in the spring of 2015 registered an opposition of 64% (Szonda Ipsos), 62% (Medián) 59% (Tárki). By the end of May, according to a poll by Medián, 72% of those polled disliked the new law, even the majority of Fidesz-KDNP voters were against it.[28] Opposition parties and private persons tried to start a public referendum several times. By November 2015 there were 16 such attempts, but none of them were approved, for various bureaucratic reasons,[29] until in early 2016 one of these attempts, initiated by theHungarian Socialist Party, was finally successful. The government, rather than being forced to hold the referendum (which could have been interpreted as a huge success for the opposition party, even though the law was opposed by the majority of Fidesz voters too) lifted the ban in April 2016.[30]
| Election | Leader | National vote | Seats | +/– | Status | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | |||||||
| 1945[a] | István Barankovics | 2,697,137 | 57.03 (#1) | 2 / 409 | New | Coalition (FKgP-MKP-MSZDP-NPP-KNDP) | ||
| 1947 | 824,259 | 16.50 (#2) | 60 / 411 |  58 | Opposition | |||
| Election | Leader | SMCs | MMCs | Seats | +/– | Status | ||
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||||
| 1990 | Sándor Keresztes | 287,614 | 5.80 (#5) | 317,183 | 6.46 (#6) | 21 / 386 | New | Coalition (MDF-FKgP-KNDP) (1990–1993) (MDF-EKGP-KNDP) (1993–1994) |
| 1994 | László Surján | 397,887 | 7.37 (#6) | 379,573 | 7.03 (#5) | 22 / 386 | 1 | Opposition |
| 1998 | György Giczy | 129,791 | 2.90 (#8) | 116,068 | 2.58 (#8) | 0 / 386 |  22 | Extra-parliamentary |
| 2002[b] | László Varga | 182,256 | 3.24 (#4) | 219,029 | 3.90 (#4) | 0 / 386 |  0 | Extra-parliamentary |
| 2006[c] | Zsolt Semjén | 2,269,241 | 41.99 (#1) | 2,272,979 | 43.21 (#2) | 23 / 386 | 23 | Opposition |
| 2010[c] | 2,732,965 | 53.43 (#1) | 2,706,292 | 52.73 (#1) | 36 / 386 | 13 | Supermajority (Fidesz-KDNP) | |
| Election | Leader | Constituency | Party list | Seats | +/– | Status | ||
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||||
| 2014[c] | Zsolt Semjén | 2,165,342 | 44.11 (#1) | 2,264,780 | 44.87 (#1) | 16 / 199 | 20 | Supermajority (Fidesz-KDNP) |
| 2018[c] | 2,636,201 | 47.89 (#1) | 2,8224,551 | 49.27 (#1) | 16 / 199 | 0 | Supermajority (Fidesz-KDNP) | |
| 2022[c] | 2,823,419 | 52.52 (#1) | 3,060,706 | 54.13 (#1) | 18 / 199 | 2 | Supermajority (Fidesz-KDNP) | |
| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009[a] | Pál Schmitt | 1,632,309 | 56.36 (#1) | 1 / 22 | New | EPP |
| 2014[a] | Ildikó Pelczné Gáll | 1,193,991 | 51.48 (#1) | 1 / 21 | 0 | |
| 2019[a] | László Trócsányi | 1,824,220 | 52.56 (#1) | 1 / 21 | 0 | |
| 2024[a] | Tamás Deutsch | 2,048,211 | 44.82 (#1) | 1 / 21 | 0 | PfE |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)| National Assembly (199) |
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| Not represented* |
* Threshold for parties to join the National Assembly in Hungary is 5% of the popular vote, 10% for coalitions of two parties, and 15% for coalitions of three or more parties. |
| European Parliament (21) | |
| International | |
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| National | |
