Goulash democracy - Hungarian politics

National Review, April 16, 1990

MR. RUBIK, of cube fame, reportedly had a hand in designing Hungary's new electoral system, which, complicated though it is, million eligible adults voted, choosing among more than fifty parties. Of the 12 parties that fielded candidates nationally, six won more than the 4 per cent required to ensure a seat in Parliament. Round One had produced these results as we went to press.

A new, wholly democratic coalition will emerge involving four parties, which have already begun their complex mating dance. The Democratic Forum, with 25 per cent, and the Free Democrats, with 21 per cent, disagree on very little. The Young Democrats, who limit members to age 35 or younger and are virtually identical twins of the Free Democrats, won about 9 per cent, so that adding their totals to the Free Democrats' would give the combined pair a clear plurality. The Smallholders, who won Hungary's last free election in 1947, netted about 13 per cent this time; they represent the yearnings of expropriated small farmers, shopkeepers, and craftsmen for restoration or compensation. All four of these parties favor free-market economics and diving headlong into the European Community.

A late pre-election Gallup Poll had established that one of the primary emotional factors dividing voters was the degree to which they favor or fear change and would rather bear those ills they have than fly to others they know not of. The old-line Leninoids tried to exploit this and promised, in effect, to lead militant protests and strikes among those hurt in the transition to a free-market economy. But they mustered only a fraction above 3 per cent of the vote. Weep not for the comrades, however. Where is Karoly Grosz, the loyal apparatchik who succeeded Janos Kadar as Party secretary? This unreconstructed Leninist, who chose to go with the old Party name, now represents a Canadian venture-capital firm.

Those in Moscow who talk nowadays of "the Hungarian model" as the way for their own Communist Party to climb peacefully down from its Leninist pinnacle will find modest comfort in the Hungarian results. The Communist arch-revisionists, Imre Pozsgay, Rezso Nyers, and Miklos Nemeth, who dissolved the Party and became born-again social democrats, got a surprising 11 per cent, pronounced themselves pleased, and promised vigorous parliamentary representation for leftist sentiments, presumably egalitarian envy and yearning for social safety netting. At his morning-after press conference, Pozsgay smiled broadly when one journalist suggested he and his revisionist colleagues deserved credit for bringing Hungary a truly free election. This is true. But they also deserve criticism for having been members of a dictatorial sect for most of their political lives. Hungary's voters have given greater weight than Western reporters to their long political oppression. Prudence suggests that Mr. Pozsgay should remain a respected opposition leader for many years yet.