The prime minister of Hungary ( hu, Magyarország miniszterelnöke) is the

head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

. The

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 ...

and the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, to their

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

and ultimately to the

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district or c ...

. The current holder of the office is

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 ...

, leader of the Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance, who has served since 29 May 2010. According to the Hungarian Constitution, the prime minister is nominated by the

president of Hungary The president of Hungary, officially the president of the republicUnder the Basic Law, adopted in 2011, the official name of the state is simply Hungary; Before, the state was called the Republic of Hungary. However, the office is nonetheles ...

and formally elected by the National Assembly. Constitutionally, the president is required to nominate the leader of the political party who wins a majority of seats in the National Assembly as prime minister. If there is no party with a majority, the president holds an audience with the leaders of all parties represented in the assembly and nominates the person who is most likely to command a majority in the assembly, who is then formally elected by a simple majority of the assembly. In practice, when this situation occurs, the prime minister is the leader of the party winning a plurality of votes in the election, or the leader of the senior partner in the governing coalition.

Official title

The title of Hungary's head of government in Hungarian is ''miniszterelnök''. Literally translated, this means "

minister-president A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...

". However, since "

" or "

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

" is the more usual title in a parliamentary system for a head of government in English-speaking nations, the title is translated as "prime minister" by most English sources.

History of the office

Palatine of Hungary

The palatine ( la, comes palatii, comes palatinus, later ', hu, nádorispán/nádor, sk, nádvorný župan / nádvorný špán, later: ', german: Palatin) was the highest dignitary in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...

after the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

(a kind of powerful

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 ...

and supreme judge) from the kingdom's rise up to 1848/1918. Initially, he was in fact the representative of the king, later the vice-regent (

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...

). In the early centuries of the kingdom, he was appointed by the king, later elected by the Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary. After the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

s solidified their hold of Hungary, the dignity became an appointed position once again. Finally, it became hereditary in a cadet (junior) branch of the Habsburg dynasty after King Francis appointed his brother

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the m ...

Creation of the position

During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 the revolutionaries wanted the creation of a Hungarian cabinet which would be independent from the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

and the Buda Chancellery (which was office of the imperial governor-general). One of the 12 points said: ''2. A responsible government in

Buda Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...

- Pest.''

Ferdinand V Ferdinand V is the name of: *Ferdinand II of Aragon, Ferdinand V of Castile, ''the Catholic'' king of Castile, Aragon and Naples *Ferdinand I of Austria en, Ferdinand Charles Leopold Joseph Francis Marcelin , image = Kaiser Ferdinand I.jp ...

appointed Count Lajos Batthyány for the position of prime minister of Hungary on 17 March 1848. The government was called ''ministry'', differently from the current acceptation. The ministries were called ''departments''. The position was vacant after the defeat of the freedom fight.

List of officeholders

Living former prime ministers

As of , five former prime ministers of Hungary are alive. Viktor Orbán, who served as prime minister from 1998 to 2002, is currently serving and thus is not included on this list.

References

External links

Official government Web site of the Office of the Prime Minister
{{Authority control Political history of Hungary 1848 establishments in Hungary