1922 Hungarian parliamentary election

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]

1922 Hungarian parliamentary election

28 May – 2 June 1922
All 245 seats in the Diet 123 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	68.5%
First party Second party Third party   Leader István Bethlen Károly Peyer – Party EP MSZDP Independents Last election did not contest did not contest 3 seats, 3.6% Seats won 140 25 26 Seat change – – 23 Popular vote 623,201 277,481 145,836 Percentage 38.2% 17% 8.9% Swing – – 5.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Gyula Andrássy Vilmos Vázsonyi Károly Wolff Party AFP United National Democratic and Liberal Opposition KNEP Last election did not contest did not contest 73 seats, 41.5% Seats won 11 7 10 Seat change – – 63 Popular vote 103,705 79,434 70,748 Percentage 6.4% 4.9% 4.3% Swing – – 37.2%   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader István Haller Károly Huszár Tivadar Batthyány Party KP KET F48P Last election 3 seats, 2.2% did not contest 0 seat, 1.3% Seats won 6 5 1 Seat change 3 – 1 Popular vote 65,235 59,508 33,220 Percentage 4% 3.6% 2% Swing 1.8% – 0.7%
Prime Minister before election István Bethlen EP Elected Prime Minister István Bethlen EP

Electoral system

Prior to the election 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.

For the election the country was divided into 219 constituencies. Of these, 215 were single member constituencies and four multi-member constituencies. Within the 215 single member constituencies, only 20 were elected by secret ballot, the remainder (which were rural constituencies)[2] using open elections.[3] All four multi-member constituencies used secret ballots.[3]

Results

Party	Open SMCs			Secret SMCs			MMCs			Total
	Votes^[a]	%	Seats	Votes^[b]	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Unity Party	585,551	53.1	133	26,765	19.6	6	10,885	2.8	1	623,201	38.2	140	+28
Hungarian Social Democratic Party	69,501	6.3	5	40,268	29.5	7	167,712	42.7	13	277,481	17.0	25	New
Andrássy-Friedrich Party	77,612	7.0	9	6,151	4.5	0	19,942	5.1	2	103,705	6.4	11	New
United National Democratic and Liberal Opposition	–	–	–	–	–	–	79,434	20.2	7	79,434	4.9	7	+1
Christian National Union Party	62,470	5.7	9	8,278	6.1	1	–	–	–	70,748	4.3	10	–72
Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party	61,266	5.6	4	5,427	4.0	1	–	–	–	66,693	4.1	5	New
Christian Socialist Party	48,653	4.4	5	4,212	3.1	0	12,460	3.2	1	65,235	4.0	6	+3
Alliance of Christian Unity	–	–	–	–	–	–	59,508	15.1	5	59,508	3.6	5	New
Independence and '48 Kossuth Party	23,795	2.2	1	5,674	4.2	0	3,751	1.0	0	33,220	2.0	1	+1
'48 Smallholders Party	26,972	2.4	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	26,972	1.7	2	New
National Civic Party	7,482	0.7	1	5,809	4.2	1	9,473	2.4	0	22,764	1.4	2	New
Christian Opposition	6,780	0.6	1	–	–	–	13,830	3.5	1	20,610	1.3	2	New
National Defence Party	4,644	0.4	0	–	–	–	3,423	0.9	0	8,067	0.5	0	0
Hungarian Workers' Party	7,768	0.7	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	7,768	0.5	1	0
Christian Agricultural Workers and Craftsmen Party	3,584	0.3	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	3,584	0.2	1	New
Liberal Opposition	2,929	0.3	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	2,929	0.2	1	New
National Democratic Party	–	–	–	1,944	1.4		–	–	–	1,944	0.1	0	–
Economic Policy Party	–	–	–	–	–	–	7,545	1.9	0	7,545	0.5	0	New
Christian National Party	–	–	–	–	–	–	3,547	0.9	0	3,547	0.2	0	–2
Hungarian National Socialist Bloc	–	–	–	–	–	–	1,423	0.4	0	1,423	0.1	0	0
Independents	113,673	10.3	22	32,163	23.5	4	–	–	–	145,836	8.9	26	+14
Invalid/blank votes	0	–	–		–	–	13,167	–	–		–	–	–
Total	1,102,680	100	195	136,691	100	20	406,100	100	30	1,632,304	100	245	+26
Registered voters/turnout	1,553,184	71.0	–	153,024	89.5	–	444,710	91.3	–	2,382,158		–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

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

^b 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