Kathleen A. Montgomery, "Electoral Effects on Party Behavior and Development: Evidence from the Hungarian National Assembly," Party Politics, 5 (October 1999), 507-523.

First Paragraph:
In the spring of 1990, Hungary held its first free multi-party elections in over 40 years, and the largest non communist party, the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), formed a coalition with two smaller parties revived from the pre-communist inter-war era, the Independent Smallholders' Party (FKgP) and the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP). The chief successor of the communist regime, the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), was relegated to an oppositional role (see Table 1). The Hungarian National Assembly was thereby transformed into a working multi-party legislature. Its procedural rules, however, did not keep pace with these changes. Held over from the previous communist legislature, the House Rules gave little attention to the partisan organization of parliamentary work.

Figures and Tables:
Table 1: results of the 1990 and 1994 Hungarian elections by party and mandate
Table 2: Patterns of floor activity in the Hungarian national Assembly, 1990-4 (legislative proposals , pre-agenda speeches and amendments)
Table 3: sponsors of interpellations and questions among the three mandate categories
Figure 1: territorial issues by mandate type

Last Paragraph:
If future elections continue to reward cohesive parliamentary behavior, then -- in a competitive electoral environment -- all of the Hungarian parties may be expected to become more disciplined. This will have consequences for parliamentary behavior. As parties become more disciplined, district members will increasingly represent their local constituencies through extraparliamentary means, such as casework, surgeries and contacts with local governments, with these activities becoming means of building partisan support in the regions. As one interviewee put it:

"Direct MPs are trying to build up a good relationship with the local government on behalf of their party ... it seems to me that it is more important for them to get invitations to each of the occasions -- opening factories, attending ceremonies for a one-hundred-year-old lady -- than what they can do in parliament."