The Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union (in Hungarian: Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség) is a large conservative centre-right political party in Hungary; as of 2004 the most important one in the opposition.

It was founded in 1988, named simply Fidesz (Fiatal Demokraták Szövetsége, Alliance of Young Democrats), originally as a youthful libertarian party against communism. In the mid-1990s it realigned its political position into a conservative line where it is now, adding "Hungarian Civic Party" (Magyar Polgári Párt) to its shortened name. It took its present name in 2003, "Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union".

Before 2002 it, under leader and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, had governed Hungary in coalition with the smaller Hungarian Democratic Forum. It lost the elections to the Hungarian Socialist Party.

It has 164 members of the Hungarian National Assembly, out of a total of 386. It was the most successful party in the 2004 European Parliamentary Elections, gaining 47.4% of the vote and electing 12 MEPs including Lívia Járóka, the first Roma MEP.

See also

• Politics of Hungary
• List of political parties in Hungary.

External Link

• Official web site
• Its history and manifesto in English