Opposing the Opposition – Changing Minority Rights in the Hungarian Parliament

The Hungarian parliament is currently being transformed due to the new legislation concerning procedural rights. In contrast to former practice the working of parliament, including parliamentary rules, have been laid down by Law and not by Standing Orders. The standing orders of three different periods will be compared: the first orders established in 1994, the reformed orders from 2007 and finally the new Law on Parliament and the Standing Orders of 2012. The changes seem to follow the trend of decreasing minority rights that has characterized the institution since its naissance in 1990. Among the conditions of majority parliamentarism, parliamentary rules reflect majority incentives while they affect both minority and majority behavior. In our paper we aim to map out the changes and the driving forces behind and assess first their consequences upon the opposition and second on the overall functioning of the parliament. The paper will focus on the control function (the place and use of questions and investigation committees) traditionally exercised by the parliamentary opposition as well as their attempt to influence decision-making despite increasing constraints. Similarities and differences of opposition parties (party type, ideological stance, mainstream vs radical parties) will be explored to differentiate between the institutional-level influences and the party-level characteristics. With the decreasing role of opposition within the parliament the opposition is forced outside of the parliament to look for ways of controlling the government and influencing the legislative process. In our paper we argue that this trend undermines not only the control and legislative function of the parliament but also its mediating capacity and finally its role in consolidating Hungarian democracy.