A preferential seat was allocated in the Hungarian Parliament to the German minority, represented by Imre Ritter. Imre Ritter, a deputy for the National Self-Government of Hungarian Germans (MNOÖ), received some 21,558 votes, giving him a mandate, according to the National Election Office (NVI). A former Fidesz politician, he is absolutely seen as leaning towards the ruling party.
This article was originally published on our sister-site, Ungarn Heute.
Imre Ritter has represented the German nationality in the Hungarian Parliament for four years. He was the first and only ethnic Hungarian member of the Hungarian Parliament since the regime change. To be precise, four years ago, Imre Ritter was also the first to win a mandate for the Hungarian Germans in the Hungarian Parliament since 1933.
In 2006, he was already a deputy in Budaörs for the Fidesz-KDNP. As a member of parliament for a national minority, he also supported Fidesz, voting for Fidesz in most cases in parliament.
The German minority is the second largest national minority in Hungary, numbering about 186,000 people (according to the 2011 census). In today’s Hungary, there are three major settlement areas where members of the German minority live in large numbers: Western Hungary along the Austrian border, the Hungarian Central Uplands to the Lake Balaton Uplands, and Southeastern Transdanubia.
Featured image via Attila Kovács/MTI
