Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians

The Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (Hungarian: Vajdasági Magyar Szövetség, Serbian: Савез војвођанских Мађара, romanized: Savez vojvođanskih Mađara; abbr. СВМ, SVM or VMSZ) is a regionalist political party in Serbia representing the Hungarian minority of Serbia.

Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians

Савез војвођанских Мађара
Savez vojvođanskih Mađara
Vajdasági Magyar Szövetség
PresidentIstván Pásztor
Vice PresidentsÁrpád Fremond
Elvira Kovač
Bálint Pásztor
FounderJózsef Kasza
Founded18 June 1994
Split fromDemocratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians
HeadquartersTrg Žrtava Fašizma 9, Subotica
Membership (2015)12,000[1]
IdeologyHungarian minority interests[2]
Conservatism[3]
Autonomism[4]
Regionalism[4]
Pro-Europeanism[5]
Political positionCentre-right[6]
European affiliationEuropean People's Party[7] (associate)
Colours  Green
National Assembly
9 / 250
Assembly of Vojvodina
11 / 120
Party flag
Website
www.vmsz.org.rs

History

Foundation and early history

The party was founded in 1994 in Senta by József Kasza and former members of the Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians as a citizen group which in 1995 was registered as a political party.[8] They participated in the 1997 parliamentary election in which they won 1.23% of the vote and 4 seats in the National Assembly.[9] In early 2000, it was one of the founding members of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) which ousted the president Slobodan Milošević later that year. In the 2000 parliamentary election they participated under the DOS coalition and the party won 6 seats in the parliament.[10]

Post-Milošević era and leadership change

From the early 2000s, they started promoting an idea to form a Hungarian Regional Autonomy in the northern part of Vojvodina. In the 2003 parliamentary election they ended up not passing the electoral threshold with 4.23% of the vote.[11] In 2007 they participated alone and they won 1.3% of the vote and 3 seats in the parliament.[12] They also participated in the 2004 provincial election in Vojvodina and the party won 8.50% of vote in the one-round voting system and was part of the ruling coalition in the Vojvodina provincial parliament. In the 2004 local elections, the party won the largest number of seats in the municipal parliaments of Subotica, Senta, Bačka Topola, Mali Iđoš, Kanjiža (where Reformists of Vojvodina won same number of seats) and Čoka. In 2008, the party elected István Pásztor as their new president while József Kasza remained as the honorary president until 2010, when his membership was revoked.[13] In 2008, they participated in the provincial election in Vojvodina, local elections and parliamentary election and they were a part of the Hungarian Coalition which won 7% of the vote in the provincial election and 1.81% and 4 seats in the parliamentary election, while in Kanjiža they won 50.91%, in Senta 31.87%, , Bačka Topola 46.25%, Mali Iđoš 37.18%, and Bečej 29.63%. [14] Since the introduction of the multi-party system in Serbia, the mayor of Subotica was often from the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians. That has changed after local elections 2008,[15] when Democratic Party won the largest number of votes in this city.

Modern period

In 2012, they participated in the parliamentary election, local elections, provincial election and presidential election. In the parliamentary election, they won 1.75% of the vote and 5 seats in the National Assembly, in Novi Sad they won one seat while in Subotica they won 22.52% of the vote, in the provincial election they won 5.83% of the vote and 7 seats, and in the presidential election, in the first round, Pásztor won 1.62% of the vote in the first round while in the second round he supported Boris Tadić.[16] Since the 2014 parliamentary election, they have been supporting the ruling SNS-led coalition. In 2014 they won 2.1% of the vote and 6 seats in the parliament, in 2016 they won 1.5% of the vote and lost two seats and then in 2020 they won 2.23% of the vote and got 5 more seats in the parliament.

Electoral results

Parliamentary elections

Year Popular vote % of popular vote Number of seats Seat change Notes Status
1997 50,960 1.23%
4 / 250
4 opposition
2000 2,402,387 64.09%
6 / 250
2 Coalition DOS government
2003 161,765 4.23%
0 / 250
6 Coalition ZZT no seats
2007 52,510 1.30%
3 / 250
3 opposition
2008 74,874 1.81%
4 / 250
1 Coalition MK gov′t support
2012 68,323 1.75%
5 / 250
1 opposition
2014 75,294 2.10%
6 / 250
1 gov′t support
2016 56,620 1,50%
4 / 250
2 gov′t support
2020 71,893 2.23%
9 / 250
5 gov′t support

Presidential elections

President of Serbia
Election year # Candidate 1st round votes % 2nd round votes % Notes
2008 6th István Pásztor 93,039 2.26 Hungarian Coalition
2012 9th István Pásztor 63,420 1.62%
2017 1st Aleksandar Vučić 2,012,788 55.10% Government coalition

Positions held

Major positions held by Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians members:

President of the Assembly of VojvodinaYears
Sándor Egeresi 2008–2012
István Pásztor 2012–

See also

References

  1. "U Srbiji milion i po članova partija, neki imaju i po pet članskih knjižica" (in Serbian). Blic. 29 January 2015.
  2. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2020). "Vojvodina/Serbia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  3. Losoncz, Alpár (24 May 2015). "Nem a liberalizmus tizedeli a kisebbségi magyarokat". napló.org (in Hungarian). Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  4. Florian Bieber; Jenni Winterhagen (2006). Ethnic Violence in Vojvodina: Glitch or Harbinger of Conflicts to Come? (PDF). European Centre for Minority Issues. p. 29.
  5. Jansen, Thomas; Van Hecke, Steven (2011). At Europe's Service: The Origins and Evolution of the European People's Party. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 384. ISBN 9783642194146.
  6. "Ismét Kasza József a VMSZ elnöke". www.origo.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  7. "EPP Political Assembly tackles migration, prepares EPP Congress, and upgrades two member parties". Brussels: European People's Party. 2 September 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  8. "Lik i delo: Jožef Kasa" (in Serbian). Vreme. 18 February 2010.
  9. "Izbori 1997: Bojkot dela opozicije, Šešelj i Vučić na vlasti sa socijalistima" (in Serbian). N1. 3 March 2020.
  10. "10 March 2020" (in Serbian). N1.
  11. "Konačni rezultati izbora 2003. godine" (in Serbian). B92. 2003.
  12. "Izbori za narodne poslanike Narodne skupštine Republike Srbije, 21. januar 2007. godine - mandati" (in Serbian). Republički zavod za statistiku. 2007.
  13. "Ethnic Hungarian party expels honorary president". B92. 11 February 2010.
  14. "Izbori za narodne poslanike Narodne Skupštine Republike Srbije" (PDF) (in Serbian). Republički zavod za statistiku. 11 May 2008.
  15. Hrvatska riječ Archived 7 September 2012 at Archive.today Davor Bašić Palković: Formirana nova gradska vlast u Subotici, 18. srpnja 2008. (in Croatian)
  16. "Izbori 2012: Rezultati i postizborna trgovina" (in Serbian). Vreme. 14 May 2012.

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