ABSTRACT
The 2019 Hungarian European Parliament election took place in a heated atmosphere. Since coming to power, the government party Fidesz had centralized the media, changed the electoral law, limited the control functions of the Constitutional Court, and attacked civil society and academia as well as several European institutions. Illiberal politics was on the rise. The 2019 EP election was thus characterized by a conflict between the government party and the various opposition parties with the latter being united in their aim to stop the on-going centralization tendencies of the Fidesz government. This chapter examines whether in this highly politicized climate the 2019 Hungarian EP election was more likely to become a truly first-order election, drawing on data from the RECONNECT 2019 EP election panel survey. Overall, Hungarian parties were quite successful in mobilizing their voters to turn out to vote in the 2019 EP election by portraying it as decisive for the future of Hungary and in increasing citizens’ interest in the EP election – thus, hinting at the 2019 EP election having become more important in the mind of the citizens. However, national issues as well as government performance were the main drivers for Hungarians’ electoral behaviour, leading to the conclusion that the 2019 Hungarian EP election can mostly be classified as a second-order contest.
