The 2024 Budapest Assembly election was held on 9 June 2024, concurrent with other

local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

in Hungary. In December 2023, the

Hungarian Parliament The National Assembly ( ) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to four-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proportional representation: a mixed-member ...

restored party-list proportional rules, which was last applied in the 2010 Budapest Assembly election. During the election, 32 representatives will be elected, while the

Mayor of Budapest The Mayor of Budapest (, ) is the head of the General Assembly in Budapest, Hungary, elected directly for 5-year term since 2014 (previously municipal elections were held quadrennially). Until 1994 the mayor was elected by the General Assembly. ...

will be elected directly by popular vote at the same time.

Background

During the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and 2019 Budapest Assembly elections, voters elected the Mayor of Budapest, and the mayors of the 23 districts directly, while 9 seats in the assembly were distributed proportionally, taking into account votes cast for losing district mayoral candidates. In October 2023, former liberal MP Gábor Fodor, who by then had become a vocal supporter of the ruling party

Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; ) is a national-conservative political party in Hungary led by Viktor Orbán. It has increasingly identified as illiberal. Originally formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young Democrats () as ...

, proposed the restoration of the party-list proportional rules in the Budapest Assembly elections, which was applied between 1994 and 2010. According to Fodor, the dominance of the district mayors in the General Assembly of Budapest results in "the capital's aspects appearing less in the decisions". According to the opposition politicians, Fidesz prepared the amendment of the electoral law with this opinion article months before the election, in the same way as in 2014, along the lines of current political interests. Incumbent mayor

Gergely Karácsony Gergely Szilveszter Karácsony (; born 11 June 1975) is a Hungarian politician, sociologist, political scientist, activist and current Mayor of Budapest. He previously served as member of the National Assembly (MP) from 2010 to 2014 and Mayor ...

argued "It is not realistic that a minion of

Viktor Orbán Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been the 56th prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has also led the Fidesz political party since 200 ...

's regime would have come up with this proposal from his own wellhead". Fodor's idea was widely embraced by the pro-government media in the following weeks. Independent media Telex.hu analyzed that the amendment complicates the situation of the opposition parties, who are forced to cooperate while running separately in the simultaneously held

European Parliament election Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until 2019, 751 ...

. The opposition

Our Homeland Movement Our Homeland Movement ( Hungarian: ''Mi Hazánk Mozgalom'', '','' Mi Hazánk, MHM, MH) is a Hungarian far-right political party. It was founded by Ásotthalom mayor and former Jobbik Vice-President, László Toroczkai, along with other Jobbik ...

submitted the amendment proposal to the parliament in November 2023. According to them, "the current system favors the two largest political poles (Fidesz and the left-wing opposition), which does not correspond to democratic diversity". The parliament, with the government alliance

Fidesz–KDNP Fidesz–KDNP Party Alliance (), formerly also known as the Alliance of Hungarian Solidarity (), is a right-wing national conservative political alliance of two political parties in Hungary, the Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (Fidesz) and ...

's two-thirds majority, voted for the amendment to the law in December 2023, restoring the party list system after ten years.

Election system

The old-new election system restored party-list proportional rules. List seats were distributed using the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...

. The 32 representative seats of the 33-member General Assembly of Budapest are allocated in proportion to the votes cast on party lists (the mayor is the 33th member of the assembly). A metropolitan list can be submitted by that party or organization that has a mayoral candidate in at least three districts or launch a candidate for the position of Mayor of Budapest. Parties whose lists reach the 5% entry threshold enter the General Assembly.

Mayor

Debates

Opinion polling

Results

Results by district

Party lists

Overview

Candidates

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Budapest Assembly election, 2024 2024 elections in Hungary June 2024 in Hungary Local elections in Hungary 2024 assembly election