Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0162/01629.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 18KB | 332 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01629}
$Pretitle{365}
$Title{Hungary
The Coalition Form of Government in Hungary}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Embassy of Hungary, Washington DC}
$Affiliation{Embassy of Hungary, Washington DC}
$Subject{government
minister
party
prime
state
president
national
office
political
republic}
$Date{1990}
$Log{Jozsef Antall*0162901.scf
Table 7.*0162901.tab
Table 8.*0162902.tab
}
Country:     Hungary
Book:        Hungarian-US relations
Author:      Embassy of Hungary, Washington DC
Affiliation: Embassy of Hungary, Washington DC
Date:        1990

The Coalition Form of Government in Hungary

Brief historical review

     Whilest the coalition as a form of government is not without its
traditions in Hungary, its recent history is concentrated into a rather short
period-above all, the two years following the Second World War. Nonetheless,
the coalition system has produced a lasting effect on politics and public
thinking in general.

     The Hungarian National Independence Front was formed on December 2, 1944,
in Szeged, South Hungary. It was made up of the Hungarian Communist Party, the
Social Democratic Party, the National Peasant Party, the Independent
Smallholders' Party, the Bourgeois Democratic Party and the Trade Unions. The
Provisional National Assembly was convened for December 21, 1944, and promptly
declared itself the organization in which "Hungarian state sovereignty is
vested". The Provisional National Assembly elected the Provisional National
Government, which had three Communists, two Social Democrats, one Peasant
Party and two Smallholders' Party members; apart from these, four non-party
politicians also participated in government work.

     November, 1945 saw general elections being held in Hungary. When all the
voting slips had been totted up, the Smallholders' Party came out with 245
seats, the Communist won 70, the Social Democrats 69, the National Peasant
Party 23, and the Bourgeois Democratic Party two mandates. The post-election
cabinet consisted of seven ministers from the Smallholders' Party, two each
from the Communists and the Social Democrats, and one from the Peasant Party.
Zoltan Tildy, the new Prime Minister, was a Smallholder. On the basis of the
election returns, the Smallholders demanded proportional representation in
public administration; in other words, a distribution of posts favourable to
them.

     The question of constitutional form had never been explicitly settled.
Hungary had once been a kingdom, although from early 1945 on, the epithet
"royal" no longer featured in the official name of the State. According to Law
I (1946) adopted on January 31 of that year, Hungary became a republic with
Zoltan Tildy its President. Ferenc Nagy of the Smallholders' Party took over
as Prime Minister. The Left-Wing Bloc, comprising the Communist Party, the
Social Democratic Party and the Trade Unions, was formed in March, 1946. The
increasing political tensions led to the removal of Premier Ferenc Nagy; he
was never to return from abroad. Lajos Dinyes, another Smallholder, became
Hungary's new Prime Minister.

     The President of the Republic dissolved the National Assembly in July,
1947, and general elections were held on August 31. This time, only two
opposition parties were in the running: the Democratic People's Party (General
Secretary: Istvan Barankovics) and the Hungarian Independence Party
(President Zoltan Pfeiffer). Lajos Dinnyes was asked to form a government
for the second time. In his government the Communist Party received five
portfolios, the Smallholders and the Social Democrats four each, and the
Peasant Party got control of two ministries. Under increasing political
pressure, the opposition parties decided to fold. The Communist Party and the
Social Democratic Party merged in June, 1948. In 1949, fresh parliamentary
elections were held in the country. The only candidates to be put up this time
were from the Independence Popular Front, a group that gradually came to
represent solely the Communist Party, while the other parties lost their
standing and eventually got swallowed up. A one-party system came into
existence, and was institutionally enshrined in the Constitution adopted in
August, 1949. The leading role of a single party, the Communists, had been
sanctioned.

Free elections in Spring, 1990

     The following list shows how the various parties fared at Hungary's first
free general elections for forty years. The elections were held in two
rounds-March 25, and April 8, 1990.

[See Table 7.: Results of Gerneral Election]

The Government

     On May 8, 1990 the President of the Republic of Hungary requested the
President of the largest Parliamentary party, the Hungarian Democratic Forum,
to form a new government, and Parliament elected Jozsef Antall Prime Minister
on May 24,1990. A coalition government  was formed with the participation of
the Hungarian Democratic Forum, the Christian Democratic People's Party and
the Independent Smallholders' Party.



[See Table 8.: The composition of the new cabinet is as follows]

Ministers without portfolio

     In addition to participating in shaping government policy, ministers
without portfolio also have special assignments.

     Dr. Gyula Kiss is active in managing government responsibilities
connected with modernizing public administration. Cooperating with the
Minister of Justice, he sees to it that legislative tasks related to the
change in regime are carried through. On behalf of the Government, he keeps
in touch with interest representation organizations concerned with political
rehabilitation. He supervises the Indemnification Office, and sees to the
coordination of government responsibilities in regard to young people and the
national and ethnic minorities. He supervises the Office for National and
Ethnic Minorities and is active in the work the office carries out regarding
legal problems, including domestic indemnification of Hungarians living
abroad.

     Dr. Ferenc Madl. On behalf of the Government, he keeps an eye over the
National Office for Technical Development, the National Atomic Energy
Committee, and the Central Office of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He
participates in defining the goals of the Government's science policy. On
the basis of a special commission, he represents the Government and/or the
Prime Minister in international organizations, and is one of the authorities
to whom the government commissioner for the Danube barrage project reports.

     Jeno Gerbovics sees to the special tasks determined by the Government
connected with the restructuring of agriculture, and participates in the
groundwork for carrying out the agricultural reform. Together with other
ministers, he is to work on finding solutions to the employment problems in
agriculture and coordinates government responsibilities in the field of
interest protection covered by his authority.

     Dr. Peter Boros supervises the National Security Office and the
Information Office.

The Government's consultative bodies

     The Government sets up a cabinet, a Government committee, a college and
a consultative body, and appoints government commissioners.

     Present-day Hungarian regulations and constitutional practice have imbued
the concept of a cabinet with a special meaning. What this boils down to is
that the Cabinet is a consultative body that prepares government decisions,
and presents preliminary views on every question within its competence that
requires a government decision or concerns the realization of the Government's
political and economic goals. The Government created the Economic Cabinet to
consult on strategic issues concerning the economy.

     The Government Committee prepares decisions and is a coordinative and
supervisory body that also has the power to take decisions in certain cases.
Recently, a Committee on Science Policy and a Council on Science Policy were
set up.

     The College and the Consultative Body, which assist the work of the
Government in preparing decisions,