Hungarian Civic Union
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The Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union (in Hungarian: Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség) is a large conservative centre-right political party in Hungary; as of 2004 the most important one in the opposition.
It was founded in 1988, named simply Fidesz (Fiatal Demokraták Szövetsége, Alliance of Young Democrats), originally as a youthful libertarian party against communism. Fidesz was founded by young democrats, mainly students, who were persecuted by the communist party and had to meet in small, clandestine groups. The movement became a major force in many areas of modern Hungarian history, engaging itself on every level in the development of a democratic system, its members being active as guardians of fundamental human rights.
In 1989 Fidesz won the Rafto Prize. The Hungarian youth opposition movement was represented by one of its leaders, Dr Péter Molnár, who became a Member of Parliament in Hungary.
In 1993 Fidesz realigned its political position into a conservative line where it is now, adding "Hungarian Civic Party" (Magyar Polgári Párt) to its shortened name. The conservative turn caused a severe split in the membership. Péter Molnár left the party, as well as Gábor Fodor and Klára Ungár, who joined the the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats.
Fidesz gained power in 1998 under leader and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who governed Hungary in coalition with the smaller Hungarian Democratic Forum. It lost the elections to the Hungarian Socialist Party in 2002. Presently, Fidesz has 169 members of the Hungarian National Assembly, out of a total of 386.
Fidesz took its current name in 2003, "Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union".
It was the most successful party in the 2004 European Parliamentary Elections, gaining 47.4% of the vote and electing 12 MEPs including Lívia Járóka, the second Roma MEP.
The most recently success of the party is the election of Dr. László Sólyom as the new President of Hungary.
External links
- Official web site (http://www.fidesz.hu/)
- Its history and manifesto in English (http://www.fideszfrakcio.hu/index.php?MainCategoryID=54&SubCat=37)fr:Union civique hongroise