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The Democratic Coalition ( hu, Demokratikus Koalíció, DK) is a social-liberal political party in Hungary led by former
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Ferenc Gyurcsány Ferenc Gyurcsány (; born 4 June 1961) is a Hungarian entrepreneur and politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 2004 to 2009. Prior to that, he held the position of Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports between 2003 and 2004. ...
. Founded in 2010 as a faction within the
Hungarian Socialist Party The Hungarian Socialist Party ( hu, Magyar Szocialista Párt), commonly known by its acronym MSZP, is a centre-left social-democratic and pro-European political party in Hungary. It was founded on 7 October, 1989 as a post-communist evolution ...
(MSZP), the Democratic Coalition split from the MSZP on 22 October 2011 and became a separate party. It has nine MPs in the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...
and four
MEPs A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, it ...
in the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...
.


History


Within the Socialist Party

On 5 October 2010, Ferenc Gyurcsány announced to the Socialist Party (MSZP) party executive that he was founding a platform named the Democratic Coalition within the party. He stated that he would organize "a broad, open social community for 1989 Democrats", and political representation for them. The mood at the meeting was calm, but several party officials expressed disagreement with him. The plan, however, pushed through. The Democratic Coalition held its inaugural meeting at 2 p.m. in the Szent István Park in the 13th District on 22 October 2010. Meanwhile, MSZP deputy chairman András Balogh told newspaper '' Népszava'' that the party performed poorly at the elections due to several mistakes which included incompetence of Gyurcsány's while in government, the abandonment of
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
values, complacency, and the fact that Gyurcsány was involved in corruption. The former prime minister's group became the MSZP's seventh platform. The platforms within the MSZP held a debate in May 2011 on whether the party should develop as an alliance between left-wing groups or a collective party welcoming non-leftist groups and politicians – a broader alternative to the ruling party
Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; hu, Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Hungary, led by Viktor Orbán. It was formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young ...
. The latter idea was only supported by the Democratic Coalition Platform. Representatives from all seven platforms of the party agreed that the Socialists did not need a "chieftain", an "Orbán of the Left", but a team leader. This was according to István Hiller, the head of the Social Democratic Platform, in an interview with reporters during a break of the meeting. He dismissed Gyurcsány's idea of embracing liberal and
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
trends, stating that Gyurcsány's model would make the party dysfunctional.


New party

On 22 October 2011, Gyurcsány announced he was leaving the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and would set up a new parliamentary group after persuading the necessary number of lawmakers to join him. The new Democratic Coalition party was to be a "Western, Left-wing" formation with ten lawmakers. Gyurcsány announced on the first anniversary of the founding of its forerunner, the Democratic Coalition Platform. He stated that he had decided to leave the MSZP because the party had failed in its efforts to transform itself. Socialist representatives strongly condemned Gyurcsány, who had signed a pledge to stay on in the party the previous week. In his speech Gyurcsány branded the new constitution as "illegitimate" and insisted that members and heads of the independent branches of state such as the constitutional court and the public prosecutor "exclusively serve
Viktor Orbán Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian politician who has served as prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has presided over Fidesz since 1993, with a brief break between ...
". The former Democratic Party (''Demokrata Párt'') changed its name to Democratic Coalition (DK) and elected Gyurcsány its leader on 6 November 2011. At a press conference, Gyurcsány announced that the renewed party had elected Tamás Bauer, József Debreczeni, Csaba Molnár and Péter Niedermüller as deputy chairmen. The announcement stated that DK would be Hungary's "most democratic party" with all the members electing its officials directly at the party congress, adding that the authority of each member in the party's 12-strong presidium and the chairman itself will be virtually the same. The new party initially received over 3,800 membership applications. The Democratic Coalition was not allowed to form a new party faction until the spring after leaving the MSZP, based on the parliament's Constitutional and Procedural Committee decision on 7 November 2011. According to the parliamentary rules, any parliamentarian that leaves or is expelled from a party faction must sit as an independent candidate for six months before joining another faction. However, in April 2012, ruling party Fidesz approved new House rules which required that 12 MPs – rather than 10 as per previous rules – were needed to form a faction, thus blocking DK from forming a parliamentary group. Gyurcsány described this as "petty revenge on the part of the prime minister." Csaba Molnár said they might take the matter to the Constitutional Court and European forums.


Cooperation negotiations of 2014

In September 2013, the MSZP declined to sign an election deal with DK and Gábor Fodor's Hungarian Liberal Party because both parties presented excessive expectations in proportion to their electoral support. Attila Mesterházy told a forum held at the party headquarters, broadcast by commercial news channel ATV, that in order to win the next year's election, the MSZP need to win over uncertain voters. He added that the party board decided that running with Gyurcsány would keep uncertain voters away. Gyurcsány said the MSZP had instead proposed alliances of four rather than nine constituencies, all of which were impossible to win. In addition, they offered every 25th place on their party list and would have banned Gyurcsány himself from running either individually or on a list. Another request was that DK should not present a platform of its own. The party could not accept these conditions, the politician said. On 14 January 2014, centre-left opposition parties agreed to submit a joint list for the spring 2014 general election. The list was headed by MSZP leader Attila Mesterházy, the centre-left alliance's candidate for Prime Minister. Mesterházy was followed by
Gordon Bajnai György Gordon Bajnai (; born 5 March 1968) is a Hungarian entrepreneur and economist, who served as the Prime Minister of Hungary from 2009 to 2010. Prior to that, he functioned as Minister of Local Government and Regional Development from 200 ...
( Together 2014) as second and Ferenc Gyurcsány as third. Liberal leader Gábor Fodor was entered at fourth place and co-leader of the E14-PM alliance and the
Dialogue for Hungary Dialogue for Hungary ( hu, Párbeszéd Magyarországért, Párbeszéd or PM), also known in its shortened form Dialogue since September 2016, is a green political party in Hungary that was formed in February 2013 by eight MPs who left the Politi ...
(PM). Tímea Szabó was entered at fifth place on the joint list of the MSZP, E2014-PM, DK, and Liberals. The Hungarian Liberal Party also received two additional places (56th and 58th) on the list. The party eventually won 4 seats. In the 2014 European election, DK received 9.75% of the vote, and had two
MEPs A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, it ...
returned. On 26 May 2014, Csaba Molnar announced that DK had applied to join the
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialis ...
.


Independent performance and united opposition

The party ran alone in the 2018 parliamentary election, scoring 5.38% and electing 9 MPs in the National Assembly. In the 2019 European election, DK did very well, scoring 16.08%, overtaking the Hungarian Socialist Party and Jobbik and becoming the leading opposition party. In 2019 local election, the party had its best performance in
Tatabánya Tatabánya (; german: Totiserkolonie; sk, Banská Stará) is a city with county rights of 64,305 inhabitants in northwestern Hungary, in the Central Transdanubian region. It is the capital of Komárom-Esztergom County. Location The city is lo ...
and in
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...
, where 3 district mayorships were won. In 2020, two more mayorships in Budapest were added to DK after two mayors, elected as MSZP candidates, joined Democratic Coalition. After this DK became the second largest party in General Assembly of Budapest (after Fidesz–KDNP alliance) and the largest party in opposition's coalition, which is ruling in the Budapest. In 2020, Hungarian Liberal Party member Anett Bősz joined DK's political group in the National Assembly. In late 2020, the party joined joint opposition list along with the
Momentum Movement ) , ideology = , website = , country = Hungary , native_name = Momentum Mozgalom , split = , position = Centre , international = Liberal International (Observer) , european = A ...
, MSZP, Jobbik, the Dialogue, LMP and Hungarian Liberal Party. In 2021, the party took part in Hungarian opposition primary. In these elections DK joined forces with the Hungarian Liberal Party. This joint ticket came first by number of constituencies (32) and votes and its candidate to the Prime Minister
Klára Dobrev Klára Dobrev (born Klara Petrova Dobreva, bg, Клара Петрова Добрева; on 2 February 1972) is a Hungarian left-wing politician who served as Vice-President of the European Parliament between July 2019 and January 2022. Earl ...
won the first round but lost the run-off.


Ideology and international relations

Party leader and former
Prime Minister of Hungary The prime minister of Hungary ( hu, Magyarország miniszterelnöke) is the head of government of Hungary. The prime minister and the Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Parliament, to their political part ...
Ferenc Gyurcsány is a supporter of
Third Way The Third Way is a centrist political position that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of centre-right economic policies with centre-left social policies. The Third Way was born from ...
politics. The party platform also adopted elements of social liberalism and strongly
pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Polit ...
themes. During the
2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peop ...
campaign, the leader of the Democratic Coalition's EP list,
Klára Dobrev Klára Dobrev (born Klara Petrova Dobreva, bg, Клара Петрова Добрева; on 2 February 1972) is a Hungarian left-wing politician who served as Vice-President of the European Parliament between July 2019 and January 2022. Earl ...
, announced to the press, that during her party's mandates, they would pursue to build the
United States of Europe The United States of Europe (USE), the European State, the European Federation and Federal Europe, is the hypothetical scenario of the European integration leading to formation of a sovereign superstate (similar to the United States of Ameri ...
, thus making her party a European federalist as well. During the campaign, DK included several centre-left proposals in its Platform, including action against child poverty, an EU-wide minimum pension, an EU minimum wage, a new EU tax on multinational corporations and EU funds for affordable housing, thus moving to a more social democratic program. The party is not a member of any European political party; however, its MEPs are members of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. Following the 2019 European election, the Democratic Coalition dismissed an invitation to join the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; french: Alliance des Démocrates et des Libéraux pour l'Europe, ADLE) is a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europ ...
and chose to remain in the socialist group.


Election results


National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...


European Parliament


Local Elections

*
Angéla Németh Angéla Németh (18 February 1946 – 5 August 2014) was a Hungarian track and field athlete, known as Angéla Ránky after her marriage. In competing for her native country at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico, she won the go ...
– Budapest XV District (since 2018) * József TóthPolgár (since 2014) * Imre LászlóBudapest XI District (since 2019) * Péter NiedermüllerBudapest VII District (since 2019) * Ilona Szücsné Posztovics
Tatabánya Tatabánya (; german: Totiserkolonie; sk, Banská Stará) is a city with county rights of 64,305 inhabitants in northwestern Hungary, in the Central Transdanubian region. It is the capital of Komárom-Esztergom County. Location The city is lo ...
(since 2019) * László Kiss Dr - Budapest III District (since 2020) * Sándor Szaniszló - Budapest XVIII District (since 2020) *
Tibor Déri Tibor Déri (born 1985) is a Hungarian politician, who has been the Mayor of Újpest (4th district of Budapest) since 2019. Life and career Tibor Déri was born in Eger, Heves County. He is married and has three children. He earned a degree of g ...
- Budapest IV District (since 2022)


References


External links


Democratic Coalition official website
{{Authority control Political parties established in 2011 2011 establishments in Hungary Liberal parties in Hungary Parties represented in the European Parliament Pro-European political parties in Hungary Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Social liberal parties Hungarian Socialist Party breakaway groups Ferenc Gyurcsány