Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania
The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (Hungarian: Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség, RMDSZ; Romanian: Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România, UDMR) is the main political organisation representing the ethnic Hungarians of Romania.
Officially organised as a national minority organization (not as a party), RMDSZ nevertheless acts as one of the main parties of Romania. From 1990 the RMDSZ is a parliamentary party, it has its own representatives in the Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies. From 1996 UDMR was junior coalition partner in several Romanian Gorvernments. From 2007 the RMDSZ has members in the European Parliament.
Status
RMDSZ is not a legally registered political party, but takes part in elections under art. 4(2) of the Law 68/1992 which assimilates organizations representing national minorities to political parties from an electoral point of view. RMDSZ is an "alliance" of the ethnic Hungarian community in Romania, which incorporates several platforms of different ideologies, social, scientific, cultural or professional groups as associated organizations, youth and women organisations. RMDSZ represents the Magyar (ethnic Hungarian) community of Romania (1,237,746 citizens, according to the 2011 census). Hungarians represent 18.9% of the total population of Transylvania; in Szeklerland (Harghita, Covasna and part of Mureș counties) they form the majority. The overwhelming majority (99%) of the Hungarian population of Romania lives in Transylvanian counties (Arad, Bistriţa-năsăud, Bihor, Brașov, Alba, Harghita, Hunedoara, Cluj, Covasna, Caraș-Severin, Maramureș, Mureș, Satu Mare, Sibiu, Sălaj, Timiș). In national elections, the Alliance consistently obtains around 6% of the votes, which roughly corresponds to the percentage of ethnic Hungarian voters (6,5%).