Liberal Party (Hungary)
자유당 (헝가리)
A liberal Hungarian party of the Dual Monarchy era, formed in 1875 by the merger of the Deák Party and the Left Centre. It won every election except that of 1905 and governed the country for a full thirty years. After its defeat in 1905 brought a political crisis, it dissolved in April 1906.
In depth
The Liberal Party was formed on 1 March 1875 by the merger of the Deák Party, led by Ferenc Deák, and the Left Centre led by Kálmán Tisza, who became its first chairman. Its policy was shaped by the spirit and values of the Compromise of 1867. Winning 333 of 414 seats in the 1875 election, it formed the government of Béla Wenckheim, and from October that year Kálmán Tisza headed the government, staying in power until 1890 by winning four consecutive elections.
Tisza's strict party discipline, disputes over the economic compromise renewed every ten years and the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina caused several splits. The Saxon People's Party joined in 1890, and in the 1890s the first Wekerle government separated church and state through reforms such as compulsory civil marriage and the legal recognition of the Jewish religion. In 1900, thanks to Kálmán Széll's manoeuvres, the National Party merged into it as a whole.
István Tisza's formation of a government in November 1903 sharply polarised public opinion. After the 1904 "handkerchief vote", in which Speaker Dezső Perczel, breaking the house rules, signalled the vote by waving a handkerchief, prominent politicians such as Kálmán Széll and Gyula Andrássy the Younger left the party and the opposition united. Its defeat by the allied opposition in the 1905 election led to a grave political crisis, and the party dissolved without a successor on 11 April 1906.
Some former members founded the National Social Club around István Tisza, which became the National Party of Work in 1910, won the 1910 election and governed until 1917. The party's chairmen were Kálmán Tisza, István Gorove, Gusztáv Vizsolyi and Frigyes Podmaniczky (1889–1906).