Together (, ), officially Together – Party for a New Era (), formerly also known as Together 2014 (), was a

social-liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited ...

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

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

formed on 26 October 2012 for the

2014 Hungarian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 6 April 2014. This parliamentary election was the 7th since the 1990 first multi-party election. The result was a victory for the Fidesz–KDNP alliance, preserving its two-thirds majority, with V ...

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 Government of Hungary, Minister of Local Government and Regiona ...

, the former

Prime Minister of Hungary The prime minister of Hungary () is the head of government of Hungary. The prime minister and the government of Hungary, Cabinet are collectively accountability, accountable for their policies and actions to the National Assembly (Hungary), Par ...

, to contest

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 government. Together was founded as a coalition of left-wing and liberal political movements and civil organizations that transformed itself into a party in March 2013. The party had formed an electoral alliance with the

Dialogue for Hungary Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is chi ...

(PM) and they won together four seats 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 repr ...

and one seat in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

in 2014. Together dissolved after its poor performance in the 2018 parliamentary election.

Members

During its foundation, the coalition consisted of three civil society organizations: * Patriotism and Progress Association led by

. The ''Patriotism and Progress Public Policy Foundation'' formed after the 2010 elections, which prepared several professional programs and proposal for the government. The organization transformed to association in October 2012. * One Million for Press Freedom (Milla) led by Péter Juhász, originally a

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

group, which formed against the Viktor Orbán's cabinet Media Act on 20 December 2010. Milla officially abolished in April 2014 following an annual passivity. * Hungarian Solidarity Movement led by Péter Kónya, a social and trade union movement, based on the Polish

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

, formed on 4 October 2011. Solidarity left the Together party in February 2015, because disagreed with the party's internal integration and abolition of the Together's coalition platform system which led to the formation of an unified image party.

History

Gordon Bajnai announced his return to politics on 23 October 2012, during the anti-government demonstration of the One Million for Press Freedom (Milla). On the protest, he called for an anti-Orbán coalition so as to form a supermajority in Parliament with the help of which the changes done by Orbán's 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 ...

could be undone. In his speech, Bajnai repeatedly used a variant of the term ("We may fail on our own, but together, we shall prove victorious!"), when he proclaimed his support for such a "cooperation between hopeful left-wingers, disappointed rightwingers, politically abandoned free-thinkers and committed Greens" that his organization along with two other civilian body named Together 2014 as a reference to the date of the next general elections in Hungary. In December 2012, Bajnai announced that he intends to be a parliamentarian candidate in the 2014 general election. According to plans, Together 2014 would have been an umbrella organization of centre-left parties, similar to the Olive Tree in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

which established against

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

's right-wing coalition in 1995. However

Politics Can Be Different Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of status or resources. The branch of social science that studies poli ...

(LMP) had rejected the cooperation in November 2012 and January 2013, and the

Hungarian Socialist Party The Hungarian Socialist Party (, ), commonly known by its acronym MSZP (), is a centre-left to left-wing social-democratic and pro-European political party in Hungary. It was founded on 7 October 1989 as a post-communist evolution and one of t ...

led by

Attila Mesterházy Attila Mesterházy (born 30 January 1974) is a Hungarian politician, who served as the seventh chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) from 10 July 2010 to 29 May 2014. He was a Member of Parliament between 2004 and 2022. He was the par ...

gradually took over the initiative. The Together movement transformed itself into party on 8 March 2013, as only parties could take part in the election according to the rules. Three co-presidents were elected: Viktor Szigetvári (Patriotism and Progress Association), Péter Kónya (Solidarity) and Péter Juhász (Milla). The party was registered as "Together – Party for a New Era" because several other organizations overtaken the name "Together 2014" at the National Election Office. On 14 January 2014, five opposition parties, including Together, entered into a coalition and formed Unity alliance. Contrary to his earlier plans, Bajnai could not reach to become joint Prime Minister candidate of the left-wing opposition since

(MSZP) was appointed to that position. The Unity suffered a heavy defeat and Together won only three mandates within the alliance and was unable to form a parliamentary group. The Together–Dialogue for Hungary alliance received 7.25% of the votes in the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties field ...

and gained one seat (

Benedek Jávor Benedek Jávor (born 2 July 1972) is a Hungarian politician and a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2014 to 2019. He is a member of Dialogue for Hungary, part of the European Green Party. Biography He finished his secondary s ...

, co-leader of the Dialogue for Hungary). Following the retirement of Gordon Bajnai in September 2014, Viktor Szigetvári became the only key leader of the party. He was elected sole president in February 2015, against Levente Pápa. On 24 September 2016, the delegate assembly decided to participate in the next parliamentary election with a separate national list. Together also announced its intention of selection of joint opposition individual candidates through primaries in each constituencies. On 4 February 2017, Péter Juhász was elected as the party's new leader. On the same day, Balázs Berkecz and Nóra Hajdú were elected as vice-presidents, and Viktor Szigetvári as the leader of the party's National Political Council (the board of the party). Since March, Juhász urged the election cooperation of those "democratic opposition parties", which refuse both the Orbán regime and the former governing left-wing parties, who represent the "world before 2010". Juhász called his concept as "New Pole" (''Új Pólus''), with the possible participation of the Politics Can Be Different (LMP), the Dialogue for Hungary (PM), the

Hungarian Two-tailed Dog Party The Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party ( , MKKP ) is a political party in Hungary. It was founded in Szeged in 2006, but did not register as an official political party until 2014. The party's main activity is street art, consisting of graffiti, st ...

(MKKP) and the

Momentum Movement Momentum Movement (, Momentum) is a centrist Hungarian political party founded in March 2017. It came to national prominence as a political association in January 2017 after organizing a petition about the Budapest bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics ...

, in addition to his party. With that statement, Juhász refused the cooperation with the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), the Democratic Coalition (DK) and the

Hungarian Liberal Party Hungarian Liberal Party (, , shortened form Liberals () or MLP) is a liberal political party in Hungary. The party was founded on 27 April 2013, founded by former Alliance of Free Democrats politician and minister Gábor Fodor. As part of opp ...

(MLP). According to a Medián opinion poll published in July 2017, this hypothetical alliance would receive 16 percent of the vote in the next election. While the Together and the PM renewed their alliance in accordance with Juhász's "New Pole" concept on 4 October 2017, both LMP and Momentum Movement had rejected the election cooperation with other parties. On 23 June 2017, MP

Zsuzsanna Szelényi Zsuzsanna Szelényi (born 6 October 1966) is a Hungarian author, politician, and foreign policy expert. She is the Director of the Democracy Institute Leadership Academy for Central and Eastern Europe. Her book 'Tainted Democracy, Viktor Orban and ...

announced that she resigned from her position in the party leadership and quit Together, after losing the election for the party leadership in February against Péter Juhász. She also disagreed with the new direction and method of politics, installed by Juhász and criticized the new president's guerrilla campaign methods and media PR campaigns and "ostentatious performances". She also said that she would retain her parliamentary mandate. In January 2018, leaders of the party announced that Together will participate in the 2018 national election separately. Former president Viktor Szigetvári was nominated the party's candidate for the position of prime minister. The party failed to reach 5% electoral threshold, receiving 0.66 percent of the vote, albeit an individual candidate Szabolcs Szabó obtained a mandate, becoming his party's only MP. Subsequently, Szabó joined the LMP parliamentary group. According to the laws, Together had to repay the state aid of HUF 150 million to the state budget, as a result Juhász organized a fundraising campaign. The Together ceased to exist on 2 June 2018.

Leadership

* Leader of the alliance:

(2012–2013) * Co-presidency: Viktor Szigetvári, Péter Kónya and Péter Juhász (2013–2015) * Viktor Szigetvári (2015–2017) * Péter Juhász (2017–2018)

Alliance

On 8 March 2013, the

(PM) has established an electoral coalition with the Together, which was formed as a political party.

and

Tímea Szabó Tímea Szabó (born 18 January 1976) is a Hungarian humanitarian worker, journalist and politician. She has been a member of the National Assembly (MP) since 2010 from the Politics Can Be Different (LMP) National List, and since the 2014 elect ...

, co-chairs of the green party also became members of the Together's board. The two parties registered a joint national list for the

too. Dialogue for Hungary broke off the permanent nature of alliance between the two parties on 9 November 2014. The two parties renewed their election cooperation for the 2018 national election on 4 October 2017. However, after PM politician

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 ...

became the Socialist Party's prime minister-candidate too, the Together has terminated the cooperation agreement on 8 December 2017.

Party's ideology

The party's ideology was the

Social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

Social liberalism Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...

Liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

and the

Pro-Europeanism 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''. Pol ...

Election results

For the Hungarian Parliament: For the European Parliament: ¹ In an electoral alliance with

, Democratic Coalition and

. ² In an electoral alliance with

(PM). They gained one seat, PM politician

References

{{Hungarian political parties 2012 establishments in Hungary 2018 disestablishments in Hungary Political parties established in 2012 Political parties disestablished in 2018 Defunct political parties in Hungary Liberal parties in Hungary Defunct liberal political parties Opposition to Viktor Orbán Political parties in Hungary Pro-European political parties in Hungary Social democratic parties in Hungary Social liberal parties