ABSTRACT
In 2006 after Hungary’s fifth democratic election, party and campaign finance issues became highly controversial. In the face of public discontent about the role of money in campaigning and perceived compromised legal regulations, one of the first bills introduced after the new government was formed targeted party and campaign finance. While there seemed to be general support both from the government and the opposition, at the time of this writing, the bill has not become law, and the issue is still on the legislative agenda.1 The main argument of this chapter is that the stability of the party and the campaign finance framework in its legal and constitutional sense is in sharp contrast with its actual implementation. I argue that the implementation of public finance laws undermines not only the rules but contributes to the increasing vulnerability of the political system as has been demonstrated by developments since 2006.2
Within the party finance regime, one can witness the weaknesses of Hungarian democracy. Indeed, party and campaign finance issues cannot be separated from some fundamental Hungarian regime features: early party consolidation, fragile mass-elite linkages and frozen elite. Despite the existing upper-limit on campaign spending, parties spend more than allowed, and older and more established parties have a better chance to win thus leading to the view that the party system is frozen and that public finance has played a role. These finance issues also touch on the legitimacy of politicians as they have been involved in several controversial moneyrelated campaign practices. In terms of the consolidation of the party system, the question remains whether the finance regime is a cause or an effect or both. In this chapter, Hungarian public finance regulations will be placed within a broader political perspective to show the possible connections between the political needs of parties and their legal regulation. First, I will describe the regulations and then address political explanations for the development of the Hungarian party system and conclude by noting the connection between systemic and campaign finance problems.
