National Assembly (Hungary)

History

The Diet of Hungary () was a legislative institution in the medieval kingdom of Hungary from the 1290s, and in its successor states, Royal Hungary and the Habsburg kingdom of Hungary throughout the Early Modern period. The name of the legislative body was originally "Parlamentum" during the Middle Ages, the "Diet" expression gained mostly in the Early Modern period. It convened at regular intervals with interruptions during the period of 1527 to 1918, and again until 1946.

In 1608, a bicameral legislature was enacted as the Royal Hungarian Diet, dividing the main board and the lower board (the board of envoys). Members of the main board (the upper house) were the high nobles and high priests (archbishops and bishops). The lower board was attended by representatives of the common nobility, clergy and civil order: elected representatives of the noble county, delegates of the free royal cities and representatives of the lower Church representatives.

Approximately 10% of the total voting age population could vote for the elected delegates of the lower board (5% county nobility, 5% residents of free royal cities). The election of the noble delegates (1 delegate from each county) took place in the county delegate elections, after a long, noisy, courtier campaign, at the county hall. Delegates received voting instructions from county assemblies.

The parliament consisted of about 500 people in the 17th–18th centuries.

The articles of the 1790 diet set out that the diet should meet at least once every 3 years, but, since the diet was called by the Habsburg monarchy, this promise was not kept on several occasions thereafter. As a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, it was reconstituted in 1867.

The Latin term Natio Hungarica ("Hungarian nation") was used to designate the political elite which had participation in the diet, consisting of the nobility, the Catholic clergy, and a few enfranchised burghers, regardless of language or ethnicity.

The democratic character of the Hungarian parliament was reestablished with the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of the communist dictatorship in 1989. Today's parliament is still called the Országgyűlés, as in royal times, but is called the 'National Assembly' to distance itself from the historical royal diet.

Historical composition of the National Assembly since 1990

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Speakers of the National Assembly of Hungary

Main article: List of speakers of the National Assembly (Hungary)

Notes

References

References

1. András Gergely, Gábor Máthé: The Hungarian state: thousand years in Europe (published in 2000)
2. [[Elemér Hantos]]: The Magna Carta Of The English And Of The Hungarian Constitution (1904)
3. Cecil Marcus Knatchbull-Hugessen Brabourne (4th Baron): The political evolution of the Hungarian nation: (Volume I. in 1908)
4. 1608. évi (k. u.) I. törvénycikk * elősorolása annak, hogy „karoknak” és „rendeknek” kiket kell nevezni és hogy a közönséges országgyüléseken kiknek legyen helye és szavazata[Article I of the Act of 1608 (k. u.) *  listing who should be called "faculties" and "orders" and who should have a seat and vote in ordinary national assemblies].https://net.jogtar.hu/ezer-ev-torveny?docid=60800201.TV&searchUrl=/ezer-ev-torvenyei%3Fpagenum%3D16
5. John M. Merriman, J. M. Winter, Europe 1789 to 1914: encyclopedia of the age of industry and empire, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006, p. 140, {{ISBN. 978-0-684-31359-7
6. Tadayuki Hayashi, Hiroshi Fukuda, Regions in Central and Eastern Europe: past and present, Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University, 2007, p. 158, {{ISBN. 978-4-938637-43-9
7. 978-0-7546-6525-0