9/2010 Dezember The Extreme-Right in Hungary after the 2010 Elections Kornélia Magyar Director, Magyar Progressive Institute, Budapest 1. Introduction As a result of the parliamentary elections held in April 2010, the extreme right – currently represented by the political party of Jobbik – has become part of the Hungarian Parliament again after an eight-year absence. It is very im­portant to highlight, right at the beginning, that Jobbik is not(though the extreme right has never been) a major part of Parliament under the terms of Hungary‟s constitutional o rder due to the fact that the current power distribution in Parliament allows the opposition parties, Jobbik included, very little influence on the develop­ment of public matters. Nevertheless, the ex­treme right‟s return to Parliament is a major d e­velopment in terms of Hungarian politics. Indeed, with a particular eye toward long-term trends and the general political atmosphere of the nation at large, it is highly significant that a politi cal formation more advanced than MIÉP (Hungarian Party of Truth and Life, voted out of Parliament in 2002) has been granted a place in Parliament for at least the next four years. After all, Jobbik has a potential for development similar to that of the extreme right in Western Europe, while at the same time being heavily anti-democratic. Moreover, despite the limited role the opposition can play in the current Par­liament, Jobbik does have, as a parliamentary party, effective instruments which it can use to influence the political discussion and voters‟ perceptions, something it did not have as a par­ty without representation in Parliament. As will be described in greater detail below, these tools are comprised primarily of first, the forum for political speech and national publicity afforded any party with representation in Parliament and, secondly, the potential to directly influence the legislative process. Perhaps most significantly, these parliamentary activities, coupled with the extensive inroads Jobbik has made into municipal governments since local elections on 3 October 2010, could lay sufficient groundwork to allow Jobbik to be­come a stable party of the political center, and a long-term political presence in Hungary. To what extent the extreme right will be able to use this opportunity will depend to a great extent on Jobbik itself, but also significantly on its political rivals, the democratic parliamentary parties. 2. Jobbik in Parliament Prior to the elections, most analysts focused their questions concerning Jobbik on what the party would do with the parliamentary gains ex­pected to be won in the spring. Most projections focused on the following questions: Whether the general national mood of dissatis­faction and protest, which itself had facilitated Jobbik‟s gains, would disappear under a right ­wing government enjoying both a commanding two-thirds majority in Parliament and much greater social acceptance than the previous H­1056 Budapest, Fővám tér 2 -3, Tel:+36 1 461 6011, Fax:+36 1 461 6018, www.fesbp.hu, fesbp@fesbp.hu