Evaluating Hungary's mixed-member electoral system

• Main Author: BENOIT, Kenneth
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2001
• Subjects: Eastern European Studies; Political Science
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/4050; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/5308/viewcontent/Hungary_Mixed_Member_Electoral_Systems_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The electoral system adopted by Hungary in 1989 represents a monument to the potential for institutional design through bargaining to produce complex yet stable institutions. The key compromise reached during this bargaining process was the decision to use a mixed-member system, electing a roughly even number of representatives from both majoritarian single-seat districts (SSDs) and from multi-seat, list proportional representation (PR) districts. This decision established Eastern Europe's first mixed-member electoral system, a format that was to become common in post-communist electoral systems. In its ten-year existence, Hungary's mixed-member system has operated in three elections and seen three different governments come to power. In this chapter I evaluate the consequences of the institutional choice of the mixed-member system, examining its role in Hungary's contemporary political system, discussing its perception by both elites and voters, and finally pointing to its long-term prospects.