Christian National Union Party

The Christian National Union Party (Hungarian: Keresztény Nemzeti Egyesülés Pártja, KNEP) was a political party in Hungary during the early 1920s.

Christian National Union Party

Keresztény Nemzeti Egyesülés Pártja
LeaderKároly Wolff
FoundedOctober 1919
Dissolved1926
Merged intoKGSZP
IdeologyNational conservatism
Christian socialism
Political Catholicism
Antisemitism
Political positionRight-wing to far-right

History

The KNEP was established by Károly Wolff in October 1919 as the Christian National League, and was based on the pre-war Christian Party.[1] It was renamed the Christian National Union Party shortly afterwards. In the January 1920 parliamentary elections it won 82 seats, finishing second behind the National Smallholders and Agricultural Labourers Party. The two parties formed a coalition government on 15 March.[2]

Due to the presence of a number of strong personalities, including Sándor Ernszt, István Friedrich, Károly Huszár and Pál Teleki, the party quickly began to fragment, and by the spring of 1921 it had lost much of its strength.[1] It continued under Wolff's leadership, and became known as the Wolff Party.[1] The 1922 elections saw the party reduced to just 10 seats. It did not contest any further elections,[3] and around 1930 it merged with the Christian National Economic Party to form the Christian Economic and Social Party.[1]

Ideology

The party aimed to promote the interest of Catholics, and had a reactionary, anti-semitic programme. It was pro-Habsburg and pro-German.[1]

Further reading
  • Fazekas, Csaba (2004). Collaborating with Horthy: Political Catholicism and Christian Political Organizations in Hungary. Political Catholicism in Europe 1918-1945. 1. Routledge. pp. 160–177.

References
  1. Vincent E McHale (1983) Political parties of Europe, Greenwood Press, p. 511 ISBN 0-313-23804-9
  2. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p. 876 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, p. 907
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