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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 of suffrage or its full exercise 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 of adult members of special groups of society (including those who reach the age of 18).

'Every adult person recognised as a refugee or enjoying permanent residence status in Hungary shall have the right to vote in elections of local government representatives and mayors.'

Those people who committed a crime or have limited capacity to act, and therefore, are prohibited by the court from exercising the right of suffrage cannot vote. Those young people cannot vote who are adult citizens of another Member State of the European Union having a residence in Hungary but whose exercise of suffrage was prohibited in their country of citizenship.

Research on youth political activity

A questionnaire survey of Hungarian youth has been conducted every four years since 2000. In the representative survey conducted in 2020, 8 000 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 figure was 2.03 in 2016 and 2.43 in 2020). Young people's interest in public life has also increased since 2016: the 'value of interest in public life' was 2.46, and in 2020, it was 2.91 (average on a 1-5 point scale). Between 2016-2022, the proportion of those who think democracy is the best political system has increased to 57%.

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

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

Out of young people, university students are a significant group, since the student activity holds a significant influence on the behaviour of the 15-29 age group. The Active Youth in Hungary Research Group (Aktív Fiatalok Magyarországon) conducted the same research in 2013, 2015, 2019, and in 2024 on young people's participation in public issues. According to the results of the latest survey in 2024, the rate of political participation increased since 2019: 43% of young people did not have any participation activity in 2019; in 2024 this rate was only 30%.

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, also in terms of its organisational structure. Youth organisations or youth organisations affiliated with 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 individual legal entities, except for 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 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 - GREENS (Párbeszéd - ZÖLDEK) 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 - Conservatives (Jobbik - Konzervatívok) 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 as candidates can participate in any local elections such as 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) in parliament has increased since the elections in 2006. The number of young politicians in the 2022 parliament is 14 (7.03%). Compared to previous elections, the proportion of young MPs has decreased in the FIDESZ-KDNP group and increased in the DK-JOBBIK-LMP-MSZP-Momentum-Dialogue group. The Our Country Movement (Mi Hazánk Mozgalom) group has the highest proportion of young politicians.