Christian Democratic People's Party (Hungary)

The Christian Democratic People's Party (Kereszténydemokrata Néppárt, KDNP) is a political party in Hungary.

History

The party was founded under the name of KDNP on 13 October 1944 by Hungarian Catholic statesmen, intellectuals and clergy. Among the founders were Bishop Vilmos Apor, Béla Kovrig (president of the University of Kolozsvár), László Varga, General József Pálffy, ethnographer Sándor Bálint and political journalist István Barankovics. It was an offshoot of the Catholic Social Folk Movement (KSzN), a civil organization. At the beginning of 1945 they elected Barankovics as principal secretary.

The new KDNP enjoyed just four or five months of semi-legality towards the end of World War II. At the end of the war, the communist-dominated post-war authorities refused to legalize it or permit it to operate further. Despite attempts by Varga and Barankovics, they were refused official permission to operate and take part in elections. Some of the party's founders, including Varga, were imprisoned for some days by detachments of the Arrow Cross Party.

Meanwhile, some party members were saying that Barankovics conceded too much to the communist-influenced authorities in return for too little, and there was growing friction between two factions: the Christian socialist left wing led by Barankovics and the conservative-clerical right wing led by József Mindszenty's confidant, József Pálffy. The left wing gained increasing ascendancy in the party, and on 8 May 1945, Barankovics replaced Pálffy as president. The party changed its name to the Democratic People's Party (DNP), while a group led by Pálffy founded a new party called KDNP, which, however, failed to remain legal in an atmosphere of increasing Soviet influence.

DNP was a democratic and anti-communist organisation. In 1949, Mátyás Rákosi asked Barankovics for the party's leaders to help him in the show trial against Cardinal Mindszenty, who was still in prison yet. Barankovics refused and, abandoning his party, escaped to Austria in an American diplomat's car. Many people followed his example; others were imprisoned by communists.

Re-foundation and present

The party was re-founded in 1989 with its present name. The link between the historical party and the present one is disputed, although prominent members of the original party, like László Varga, took part in its re-activation. It was part of the Parliament between 1990 and 1998. From 1998 on, it has been closely associated with the Hugarian conservative party Fidesz. In 2005 Fidesz and the KDNP signed an agreement for election cooperation, as a result of which the KDNP obtained seats in the Hungarian National Assembly. In the 2006 elections this alliance gained strength, winning 42.0% of the list votes and 164 representatives out of 386 in the National Assembly. The party decided to form a self-contained parliamentary faction with 23 representatives. It is the third largest faction in the National Assembly, and cooperates closely with the Fidesz faction. As of 2007^[update], the party leader leader is Zsolt Semjén.

Parliamentary representation

Note: In the 2002 election the party ran together with the Centre Party, and in 2006 and 2010 it ran on the lists of Fidesz. The number of seats won by the KDNP is shown in parentheses for those years.

See also

• Politics of Hungary

External links

• Official website