1922 Hungarian parliamentary election

1922 Hungarian parliamentary election

←  1920 28 May–2 June 1922 1926  →
All 245 elected seats in the Diet 123 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader István Bethlen Károly Peyer Gyula Andrássy Party KKFKgP MSZDP KNFPP Seats won 140 25 11 Popular vote 623,201 277,481 103,705 Percentage 38.18% 17.00% 6.35%
Prime Minister before election István Bethlen KKFKgP Prime Minister after election István Bethlen KKFKgP

Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary between 28 May and 2 June 1922. ^[1] The result was a victory for the Unity Party (a renamed National Smallholders and Agricultural Labourers Party), ^[2] which won 140 of the 245 seats in Parliament, the vast majority in "open" constituencies where there was no secret ballot. ^[2]

Electoral system

Prior to the elections the United Party-led government changed the electoral system in order to ensure it retained its leading position. ^[2] This involved reintroducing open elections and restricting the electoral census. The reforms were passed by a decree by Prime Minister István Bethlen as Parliament had already been dissolved.

The country was divided into 219 constituencies, of which 215 were single member constituencies and four were multi-member constituencies. Of the 215 single member constituencies, only 20 used the secret ballot, with the remainder (which were rural constituencies) ^[2] using open elections. ^[3] All four multi-member constituencies used secret ballots. ^[3]

Parties and leaders

Party		Leader
	Christian Farmers, Smallholders and Civic Party (KKFKgP)	István Bethlen
	Social Democratic Party of Hungary (MSZDP)	Károly Peyer
	Christian National Agricultural Workers' and Civic Party (KNFPP)	Gyula Andrássy
	Christian National Union Party (KNEP)	Károly Wolff  [ hu ]
	National Democratic Party (NDP)	Vilmos Vázsonyi
	Christian Socialist Party (KSZP)	István Haller
	Party of Independence and '48 (F48P)	Tivadar Batthyány
	Alliance of Christian Unity (KET)	Károly Huszár

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Unity Party	623,201	38.18	140	+28
	Social Democratic Party of Hungary	277,481	17.00	25	New
	Andrássy-Friedrich Party	103,705	6.35	11	New
	United National Democratic and Liberal Opposition	79,434	4.87	7	+1
	Christian National Union Party	70,748	4.33	10	–72
	Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party	66,693	4.09	5	New
	Christian Socialist Party	65,325	4.00	6	+3
	Alliance of Christian Unity	59,508	3.65	5	New
	Party of Independence and '48	33,220	2.04	1	+1
	'48 Smallholders Party	26,972	1.65	2	New
	National Civic Party	22,764	1.39	2	New
	Christian Opposition	20,610	1.26	2	New
	National Defence Party	8,067	0.49	0	0
	Hungarian Workers' Party	7,768	0.48	1	0
	Christian Agricultural Workers and Craftsmen Party	3,584	0.22	1	New
	Liberal Opposition	2,929	0.18	1	New
	National Democratic Party	1,944	0.12	0	–
	Economic Policy Party	7,545	0.46	0	New
	Christian National Party	3,547	0.22	0	–2
	Hungarian National Socialist Bloc	1,423	0.09	0	0
	Independents	145,836	8.93	26	+14
Total		1,632,304	100.00	245	+26
Registered voters/turnout		2,382,158	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

By constituency type

Party		Open SMCs [a]			Secret SMCs [b]			MMCs			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Unity Party	585,551	53.10	133	26,765	19.58	6	10,885	2.77	1	140	+28
	Social Democratic Party of Hungary	69,501	6.30	5	40,268	29.46	7	167,712	42.68	13	25	New
	Andrássy-Friedrich Party	77,612	7.04	9	6,151	4.50	0	19,942	5.08	2	11	New
	United National Democratic and Liberal Opposition							79,434	20.22	7	7	+1
	Christian National Union Party	62,470	5.67	9	8,278	6.06	1				10	–72
	Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party	61,266	5.56	4	5,427	3.97	1				5	New
	Christian Socialist Party	48,653	4.41	5	4,212	3.08	0	12,460	3.17	1	6	+3
	Alliance of Christian Unity							59,508	15.14	5	5	New
	Party of Independence and '48	23,795	2.16	1	5,674	4.15	0	3,751	0.95	0	1	+1
	'48 Smallholders Party	26,972	2.45	2							2	New
	National Civic Party	7,482	0.68	1	5,809	4.25	1	9,473	2.41	0	2	New
	Christian Opposition	6,780	0.61	1				13,830	3.52	1	2	New
	National Defence Party	4,644	0.42	0				3,423	0.87	0	0	0
	Hungarian Workers' Party	7,768	0.70	1							1	0
	Christian Agricultural Workers and Craftsmen Party	3,584	0.33	1							1	New
	Liberal Opposition	2,929	0.27	1							1	New
	National Democratic Party				1,944	1.42	0				0	–
	Economic Policy Party							7,545	1.92	0	0	New
	Christian National Party							3,547	0.90	0	0	–2
	Hungarian National Socialist Bloc							1,423	0.36	0	0	0
	Independents	113,673	10.31	22	32,163	23.53	4				26	+14
Total		1,102,680	100.00	195	136,691	100.00	20	392,933	100.00	30	245	+26
Valid votes		1,102,680	100.00					392,933	96.76
Invalid/blank votes		0	0.00					13,167	3.24
Total votes		1,102,680	100.00					406,100	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,553,184	70.99		153,024	–		444,710	91.32
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Notes

1. The number of votes refers to only 170 of the 195 open single member constituencies, as the remaining 25 were uncontested. ^[3]
2. The number of votes refers to only 12 of the 20 secret single member constituencies. ^[3]

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p899 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p876
3. Nohlen & Stöver, pp916-917