1920 Hungarian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 25 and 26 January 1920.[1] However, they were only held in 164 districts.[2] After the Treaty of Trianon was signed, the 44 districts previously occupied by Romania voted between 13 June and 5 July, whilst the 11 districts occupied by Serbia did not vote until 30 and 31 October 1921.[3] The election was held with compulsory voting. In protest at this and other changes to the franchise that left 60% of the voting age population unable to vote, the Hungarian Social Democratic Party boycotted the elections,[4] and called for its supporters to cast invalid votes, resulting in an unusually high number of blank or invalid votes - 11.8% in the January elections and over 20% in Budapest and other major cities.[1]

1920 Hungarian parliamentary election

25–26 January 1920
All 164 seats in the Diet 83 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	88.4%
Leader István Szabó de Nagyatád István Friedrich Gábor Ugron Party OKGFP KNEP NDP Last election did not contest did not contest did not contest Seats won 78 73 6 Seat change – – – Popular vote 491,114 481,008 68,009 Percentage 42.3% 41.5% 5.9% Swing – – –   Leader – István Haller Sándor Giesswein Party Independents KP KSZGP Last election 33 seats, 7.99% did not contest did not contest Seats won 3 3 1 Seat change 30 – – Popular vote 42,119 25,575 6,040 Percentage 3.6% 2.2% 0.5% Swing 4.39% – –
Prime Minister before election Károly Huszár KNEP Elected Prime Minister Sándor Simonyi-Semadam KNEP

The National Smallholders and Agricultural Labourers Party and the Christian National Union Party between them won 194 of the 219 seats, and formed a coalition government on 15 March.[5] However, it lasted only until 4 June when the Treaty of Trianon was signed.[5]

Results

Party	January 1920			June/July 1920			October 1921			Total seats
	Votes^[a]	%	Seats	Votes^[b]	%	Seats	Votes^[c]	%	Seats
National Smallholders and Agricultural Labourers Party^[d]	491,114	42.3	78	113,696	73.3	29	32,358	43.3	5	112
Christian National Union Party	481,008	41.5	73	15,824	10.2	8	17,174	23.0	1	82
National Democratic Party	68,009	5.9	6	–	–	–	–	–	–	6
Christian Socialist Party	25,575	2.2	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	3
National Centre Party	16,200	1.4	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	0
Independence and '48 Party	14,928	1.3	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	0
Hungarian Public Interest Party	7,142	0.6	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	0
Christian Social and Economic Party	6,040	0.5	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	1
Christian National Party	4,756	0.4	0	1,098	0.7	2	507	0.7	0	2
Hungarian Workers' Party	2,119	0.2	0	1,652	1.1	1	–	–	–	1
Christian National '48 Party	1,087	0.1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	0
National Defence Party	–	–	–	–	–	–	3,270	4.4	0	0
Christian Democratic Civic Party	–	–	–	–	–	–	2,522	3.4	0	0
Independents	42,119	3.6	3	22,931	14.8	4	18,829	25.2	5	12
Invalid/blank votes	155,580	–	–	4,881	–	–	1,716	–	–	–
Total	1,315,677	100	164	160,082	100	44	76,376	100	11	219
Registered voters/turnout	1,487,542	88.4	–	182,223	87.8	–	82,117	93.0	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

^a The number of votes for January 1920 elections is taken only from 83 of the 164 seats. In 37 of the remaining 81 seats there was only one candidate who was elected unopposed.[6]

^b The number of votes is taken from only 13 of the 44 seats. In three of the remaining 31 seats there was only one candidate who was elected unopposed.[6]

^c The number of votes is taken from only seven of the eleven seats. In one of the remaining four seats a candidate was elected unopposed.[6]

^d The majority of candidates representing what would become the National Smallholders and Agricultural Labourers Party contested the election as Christian Smallholders or Christian National Smallholders, as the united party was not formed until January 1922.[7]

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Phillip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p899 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Hubai László (2001) Magyarország XX. századi választási atlasza I., p21 ISBN 963-9082-74-0
3. Nohlen & Stöver, p900
4. Nohlen & Stöver, p875
5. Nohlen & Stöver, p876
6. Nohlen & Stöver, p915
7. Nohlen & Stöver, p916