Gábor Kuncze

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Gábor Kuncze (born November 4, 1950 in Pápa), Hungarian liberal politician, former chairman of the Hungarian Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ)

[edit] Biography

He was born in Pápa in 1950. After finishing the piarist grammar school in Kecskemét he studied geotechnical engineering in the Ybl Miklós Technical College in Budapest and graduated in 1974. Later he got a degree of Economics specialized in Industry Management and Organization. He is married to mathematics teacher Katalin Fellegi.

[edit] Political career

Kuncze joined the party in August 1992, two years after the first free and democratic parliamentary elections following the collapse of the Communist system. In November 1992 he was elected a member of the National Assambly and in October 1994 a member of the National Executive Committee of the party. From April 1997 until June 1998 he was the chairman of the Alliance of Free Democrats. He retired from his position following the party's relatively weak results on the 1998 parliamentary elections. However, he took over the liberal party again on July 1, 2001 and was reelected as party chairman in 2003 and 2005. In 2006 Kuncze announced not to run for the chair in the following year or any executive positions in the future.

Kuncze has been a member of parliament since 1990. From 1993 until 1994 he was the leader of the Parliament group of the party, and from 1994 until 1998 Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister. After 1998 - as one of the leading opposition politicians in the parliament - he heavily criticised the work of Orbán's government. He initiated the introduction of a two-level minimum salary system, but his proposal was not negotiated by the National Assambly - that time with a right-wing majority. He also heavily criticised the governing Fidesz for their decision to hold plenary sessions of the unicameral National Assambly only every third week.