Erdélyi magyarok a magyarországi és a romániai politikai térben
Transylvanian Hungarians in the Political Space of Hungary and Romania

Author(s): Tamás Kiss, Gergő Barna
Subject(s): Government/Political systems, Political behavior, Politics and society, Comparative politics, Inter-Ethnic Relations, Ethnic Minorities Studies
Published by: ISPMN Institutul pentru Studierea Problemelor Minorităţilor Naţionale
Keywords: Transylvanian Hungarians; political behaviour; Ethnic parties; National minorities; Hungary and Romania; voting behaviour;
Summary/Abstract: Between 18 May and 8 June, 2013 the authors have collected data from a representative sample of 1,232 Hungarians from Transylvania with the purpose to examine the political behaviour of the aforementioned community within the political spaces of both Hungary and Romania. While closely related to a research project (entitled 'Ethnic parties, voting behaviour') carried out within the Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities, the present research has extended its focus to Transylvanian Hungarians' voting behaviour outside Romania. This change of perspective has been necessary because on 26 May 2010 the Hungarian Parliament adopted the amendment to the 1993 Law on Hungarian citizenship by introducing the simplified naturalization procedure, thus enabling Hungarians from the neighbouring countries of Hungary to obtain Hungarian citizenship without residency. Moreover, the new Hungarian election law adopted in November 2011 allows Hungarian citizens without residency in Hungary to vote in the Hungarian Parliamentary elections (on candidates from national party lists). As a consequence, the political, or voting behaviour of Hungarians from Transylvania needs to be analyzed by taking into account this perspective as well.

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