Helyi témájú írásbeli kérdések a Magyar Parlamentben
Written Questions of Local Issues in the Hungarian Parliament

The role of career-related variables related to the election system in the representation of local issues

Summary/Abstract: The article investigates the effects of career-related variables tying national representatives to Single Member Districts (SMDs) on representing local issues in parliament under mixed-member electoral rules. Mandate type, SMD candidacy and nominal level legislative experience will explain the number of locally relevant written questions. Permitting multiple candidacies, three different mandate types, considerable variation in terms of career consistency, and twenty years of experience with applying mixed electoral rules, Hungary is a convenient choice to model system effects. The main lesson from the data is that asking locally relevant questions is considered a tool rather for unsuccessful SMD candidates to represent local aspects in the legislature than SMD representatives within the period under investigation (2010–2013). Furthermore, members with more significant SM D experience will also engage in local questioning especially if they hold nominal level positions.

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