1994 Hungarian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 8 May 1994, with a second round of voting in 174 of the 176 single member constituencies on 29 May. These elections were important because they showed a big change in the country's politics. The Hungarian Socialist Party, which used to be the Communist party, won the elections and returned to power under the leadership of Gyula Horn. He became the prime minister.

The Hungarian Socialist Party had a remarkable comeback, winning 209 seats out of 386. This was a big jump from the 33 seats they had before. The party that was in power, the Hungarian Democratic Forum, lost badly, dropping from 165 seats to just 38. Another party, the Alliance of Free Democrats, also did not do well and lost seats too.

People seemed to remember the social security they had during the communist time, and the current government's poor performance made many voters unhappy. The Hungarian Socialist Party also changed its policies, promising to support the market economy while still helping those affected by the past. Even though they had enough seats to govern alone, Gyula Horn chose to form a coalition with the Free Democrats. This gave him a two-thirds majority, which helped him pass important reforms and made people feel more comfortable with the Socialists leading the country alone.

Electoral system

The National Assembly, or Országgyűlés, is Hungary's main law-making body. To have a group in the Assembly, a party needed to get at least 5% of the total votes across the country. The Assembly had 386 members who served for four years. They were chosen in three ways: 176 from single-seat areas using a two-round system, 152 from larger areas using party lists, and 58 from a national list to balance the results.

Results

Party list results by county