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1. Young people as voters

2. Young people as political representatives

Young people as voters

The institutional and legal framework of the rights and duties of young people is similar to the rights and duties of citizens. Participation in elections - which is not compulsory - is the main democratic tool for young people to influence society.

Who can vote?

As far as voting age is concerned, young people of legal age have the right to vote in elections, which means that they have reached the age of 18. Article XXIII. of the Fundamental Law of Hungary states that in Hungary

'every adult Hungarian citizen shall have the right to vote and to be elected as members of the National Assembly (Parliament), as local government representatives and mayors, and as members of the European Parliament.'

If an adult citizen of another Member State of the European Union has a valid residence permit in Hungary, he or she has the right to vote and to be elected to the offices mentioned. Other laws may restrict the right to vote or to exercise it fully as a consequence of residence or other conditions.

There are currently no plans to lower the voting age.

Regulations of special groups of young people

It is also the Fundamental Law of Hungary that declares the rights for adult members of special groups of society (including those who reached the age of 18).

'Every adult person recognised as a refugee, immigrant or resident in Hungary shall have the right to vote in elections of local government representatives and mayors.'

Those who have committed a criminal offence or have only limited capacity to act and who have therefore been prohibited by the court from exercising the right to vote cannot vote. Likewise, young people who are adult citizens of another Member State of the European Union and have a residence in Hungary, but who have been prohibited from exercising the right to vote in the country of which they are a national, cannot vote.

Results of the Hungarian Youth 2020 research

A questionnaire survey of Hungarian youth has been conducted every four years since 2000. The last, representative survey took place in 2020 [Hungarian Youth 2020 (Magyar Fiatalok 2020)]. 8000 young people (aged 15-29) were interviewed on various topics (e.g. family, education, work, social media, politics).

​The results on the interest in politics have increased significantly among young people (the score was 2.03 in 2016 and 2.43 in 2020). Young people's interest in public life has also increased over the last 4 years: in 2016 the 'value of interest in public life' was 2.46, in 2020 it was 2.91 (average on a scale of 1-5 points). Since the last survey, the proportion of those who think democracy is the best political system has risen to 57%.

In 2020, 78% of young people said they talk to friends about public issues, up from 64% in 2016. 28% of them have a politically active friend. These young people are more interested in politics; they talk about politics and public life with their friends and families more often. 

According to an analysis, based on data from the survey, political participation has become an individual, informal activity for many young people (Hajdú, Tóth, 2022).

In conclusion, research results show, that the political interest of the Hungarian youth has increased in recent years.

Among young people, university students are an important group, as student activity has a significant impact on the behaviour of the 15-29 age group. According to research conducted on them, 'almost all offline political participation has declined or stagnated over the past 4 years'. The percentage of pro-democracy students has increased by 10 percentage points in the last 4 years (Szabó, 2019)

Young people as political representatives

According to the Fundamental Law of Hungary, every Hungarian citizen

'shall have the right to hold public office according to his or her aptitude, qualifications and professional competence.'

There is no specific law on how young people can participate in the activities of the various political parties. Consequently, each political party handles the participation of young people differently, including in terms of their organisational structure. Youth organisations or youth organisations affiliated to political parties can be independent legal entities or part of the legal entity of the party. The youth organisations of the current political parties in Parliament are independent legal persons, with the exception of Jobbik, where there is only a youth section of the party.

• Fidelitas is a partner organisation of the FIDESZ - Hungarian Civic Alliance [FIDESZ - Magyar Polgári Szövetség – in short (HU) FIDESZ];
• the Alliance of Young Christian Democrats (Ifjúsági Kereszténydemokrata Szövetség) is the partner youth organisation of the Christian Democratic People's Party (Kereszténydemokrata Néppárt) and the Alliance of Hungarian Christian Democrats (Magyar Kereszténydemokrata Szövetség);
• the youth affiliate of the Hungarian Liberal Party (Magyar Liberális Párt) is LIFT (in Hungarian) which stands for Federation of Liberal Youth (Liberális Fiatalok Társasága);
• the partner youth organisation of the Hungarian Socialist Party (Magyar Szocialista Párt) is the Societas Left Wing Youth Movement (Societas Baloldali Ifjúsági Mozgalom), besides the party has a youth affiliate called the MSZP Youth Platform (MSZP Ifjúsági Tagozat);
• Dialogue for Hungary (Párbeszéd Magyarországért) youth organisation is Green Front Youth Movement (ZöldFront Ifjúsági Mozgalom);
• Democratic Coalition [Demokratikus Koalíció (DK)] youth organisation is Youth Democrats (Ifjú Demokraták);
• Politics can be different (Lehet Más a Politika) youth organisation Green Generation Youth Platform (Zöld Generáció Ifjúsági Tagozat);
• the youth affiliation of the Jobbik Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom) is the Jobbik Youth Platform (Jobbik Ifjúsági Tagozat);
• the youth organisation of MOMENTUM (Momentum Mozgalom), the TIZENX (Momentum TizenX)
• Our Country Movement (Mi Hazánk Mozgalom) youth organisation is Our Country Youth (Mi Hazánk Ifjai).

Youth can participate in any local elections as candidates similar to any other citizens of full age who are not prohibited by the court from the elections as a consequence of a criminal act or limited ability to act.

The proportion of young members (35 years old as a maximum) has increased since the elections in 2006. In the Parliament formed in 2022, the number of young politicians was 10 (7.03%). Compared to previous cycles, the proportion of young youth has decreased in the parliamentary group of FIDESZ-KDNP and increased in the parliamentary group of DK-JOBBIK-LMP-MSZP-Momentum-Parliamentary Dialogue. The highest proportion of young politicians is in the Our Country Movement (Mi Hazánk Mozgalom) group. [Composition of the Parliament (Az országgyűlés összetétele)]