The geography of the 1990 Hungarian parliamentary elections

Abstract

Abstract The changes in eastern and central Europe in 1989 and 1990 are pivotal in modern history. The emerging democratic systems in this region provide unique opportunities for the study of the geography of European-style national parliamentary elections in countries after a hiatus of over four decades. One of the best examples of the immediate emergence of a competitive multi-party electoral system in central and eastern Europe is Hungary. The 1989 Hungarian parliamentary election law calls for the election of a 386-member single-chamber parliament by way of both single-member districts and proportional allocation. Numerous political parties, groups, and independent candidates participated in the spring 1990 parliamentary elections. Ten electoral maps illustrate the significant geographical variation in both voter participation and political party support in these elections. The electoral maps serve as the centerpiece in an initial exploration of the geographical differences of the Hungarian electorate and in the possible explanations of the voting results. For example, voter turn-out was highest along the western border with Austria and in urban areas and lowest in rural eastern Hungary, especially along the border with the Soviet Union. This variation and the differences in political party support are partially explained not only by Hungary's geographical position, but also by its present human geography and a number of social-economic variables. In the end the largest party to emerge, the conservative, anti-Communist, nationalist, and populist Hungarian Democratic Forum, gained 43 percent of the total seats and formed a coalition government with two small center-right parties.