Democratic Coalition
Encyclopedia
The Democratic Coalition , abbreviated to DK, is a centre-left
Centre-left
Centre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...

 political party in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 led by former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány
Ferenc Gyurcsány
Ferenc Gyurcsány is a Hungarian politician. He was the sixth Prime Minister of Hungary from 2004 to 2009.He was nominated to take that position on 25 August 2004 by the Hungarian Socialist Party , after Péter Medgyessy resigned due to a conflict with the Socialist Party's coalition partner...

. Founded in 2010 as a group within the Hungarian Socialist Party
Hungarian Socialist Party
The Hungarian Socialist Party describes itself as a social democratic party in Hungary. It is the partial successor of the communist Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party , which ruled Hungary between 1956 and 1989. The decision to declare the party a successor of the MSZMP was controversial, and...

 (MSZP), the party split from the MSZP in 22 October 2011 and became a separate party. It has ten MPs in the National Assembly
National Assembly of Hungary
The National Assembly or Diet is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 386 members elected to 4-year terms. Election of members is based on a complex system involving both area and list election; parties must win at least 5% of the popular vote in order to enter list members...

.

Within the Socialist Party

On 5 October 2010 Gyurcsány announced to the party executive that he is founding a platform named the Democratic Coalition within the party. He said he will organise “a broad, open social community for 1989 democrats”, and a political representation for them. The mood at the meeting was calm, but several party officials expressed disagreement with him. The Democratic Coalition held its inaugural meeting at 2 p.m. in the Szent István Park in the 13th District on 22 October 2010. Meanwhile, Socialist deputy chairman András Balogh
András Balogh
András Balogh is a Hungarian historian and diplomat, the current ambassador to Thailand. His party, the Hungarian Socialist Party nominated him to the position of President of Hungary in 2010...

 told Népszava
Népszava
Népszava is a Social-democratic newspaper established in 1877 in Budapest by Viktor Külföldi. It was the official newspaper of the Hungarian Social Democratic Party until 1948....

 in an interview that the party performed poorly at the elections because Gyurcsány's cabinet made mistakes while in government, abandoned left-wing values and became complacent, and because of corruption. The former Prime Minister's group became the Hungarian Socialist party's seventh platform.

Platforms within the Socialist Party in May 2011 held a debate on whether the party should be developed as a cooperation between left-wing groups or a collective party welcoming non-leftist groups or politicians – a broader alternative to ruling Fidesz. The latter idea was only supported by the Democratic Coalition Platform. All seven platforms of the party agreed that the Socialists do not need a "chieftain", an “Orbán of the Left” but a team leader, István Hiller
István Hiller
Dr. István Hiller is a Hungarian politician and former chairman of the governing Hungarian Socialist Party between 16 October 2004 and 24 February 2007, succeeding László Kovács, succeeded by Ferenc Gyurcsány...

, the head of the Social Democratic Platform, told reporters during a break of the meeting. He dismissed Gyurcsány’s idea of embracing liberal and conservative trends. Gyurcsány’s model would make the party dysfunctional, he said.

A new party

On 22 October 2011 Gyurcsány has announced he is leaving the Socialist Party and will set up a new parliamentary group after succeeding in persuading the necessary number of lawmakers to join him. The new Democratic Coalition party is to be a “Western, civic centre-left” formation with ten lawmakers, Gyurcsány announced on the first anniversary that its forerunner, the Democratic Coalition Platform, was set up. He said the reason why he had decided to leave the Socialists was because the party had failed in its efforts to transform itself. Socialist representatives strongly condemned Gyurcsány, who had only last week signed a pledge to stay on in the party. Gyurcsány in his speech branded the new constitution as “illegitimate”, and insisted that members and heads of the independent branches of state such as the constitutional court and the public prosecutor “exclusively serve Viktor Orbán
Viktor Orbán
Viktor Orbán is a Hungarian populist and conservative politician and current Prime Minister of Hungary...

”.

The formerly-existing Democratic Party (Demokrata Párt) has changed its name for Democratic Coalition (DK) and elected Gyurcsány its leader on 6 November 2011. At a press conference, Gyurcsány also announced that the renewed party has elected Tamás Bauer, József Debreczeni, Csaba Molnár
Csaba Molnár
Csaba Molnár is a Hungarian jurist and politician, who served as Minister of Transport, Information and Energy in the second cabinet of Ferenc Gyurcsány, Minister of the Prime Minister's Office and acting Minister of Civilian Intelligence Services of Hungary in the government of Gordon Bajnai.He...

 and Péter Niedermüller deputy chairmen. DK will be Hungary’s “most democratic party” with all the members electing its officials directly at the party congress, Gyurcsány said, adding that the authority of each member in the party’s 12-strong presidium and the chairman itself will be virtually the same.

The new formation, an offspring of Gyurcsány’s former Democratic Coalition Platform within the Socialist Party, has so far received over 3,800 membership applications.

Democratic Coalition will not be allowed to form a new party faction until the spring after leaving the Socialist Party faction, parliament’s Constitutional and Procedural Committee decided on 7 November 2011. According the parliamentary rules, any parliamentarian that leaves or is expelled from a party faction must sit as an independent candidate for six months before joining another faction.

External links

Democratic Coalition official website
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK