So what would the composition of the new parliament be if the April 6 election had been held according to the old electoral system? Nézőpont Intézet had a look, running the numbers through the old electoral districts with its different way of dealing out compensation votes and here’s what they came up with:





Fidesz-KDNP would have won 61.4 percent of the mandates. Under the new system, it has won 66.8 percent.

So why the difference?

The main reason is that there are more seats elected from the single-member districts. In the previous parliament, 46 percent of the seats were decided by the races in the single-member districts. In the new parliament, it’s 53 percent.

The new rules also give more to “winner compensation.” A Hungarian think tank, Center for Fundamental Rights, explains that under the former system, the vote on territorial party lists compensated the winner for the votes “lost” on its list. Under the new system, what used to be three methods for tallying votes (the district candidate votes, the territorial party list votes and the national party list votes) have been simplified to two (district candidate votes and national party list votes).

But the new system benefits the winner of those first-past-the-post contests in the single-member districts. Therefore, parties that did not win any districts, like Jobbik and LMP, get a somewhat lower percentage of mandates than they’d get under the former system with the same result. Again, that does not make the new system less democratic and does not violate the principle of equality of votes. Parties that win parliamentary seats from party list votes would get more seats in a more proportionate system but would not get any seats in a purely majoritarian system. Neither of these systems are less democratic than the other.

The 44.5 percent that everyone is referring to is what Fidesz-KDNP received on the party list vote (giving Fidesz 40 percent of the party list mandates). But, at the same time Fidesz won 91% of the individual districts. These two numbers mean Fidesz-KDNP take 67 percent of the mandates and not 44.5 percent.

Not rocket science, is it? The system is a mixed one, combining majoritarian and proportional. What’s unfair about that?

By Ferenc Kumin

Source: A Blog About Hungary

This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of this portal. Your opinion articles are welcome too, for review before possible publication, via info@xpatloop.com