Hungarian minority and the parties: language and Beneš decrees

According to the 2021 census, 8.5% of Slovakia's population has Hungarian as their mother tongue, mostly in the south of the country. Slovak is the state language; in municipalities where a minority makes up at least 15% of the population in two consecutive censuses, its members can also use their language in dealings with the authorities. In December 2025 the National Council passed an amendment to the Criminal Code that punishes questioning the post-war settlement, including the 1945 Beneš decrees. Under those decrees most Hungarians and Germans lost their citizenship and property.

The test asks about these issues under the topic "Minorities". Four statements are in the main test; a fifth is asked only when the result is close. Below are the positions of all twelve parties, each based on a party manifesto, vote or statement. An asterisk (*) marks an estimated position: the party has not addressed the question directly, and the position is inferred from what it has said elsewhere. On this topic 14 of the 48 positions in the main test are estimated, more than on any other topic, because several parties do not address the Hungarian minority in their manifestos.

The test is available in Slovak, Hungarian and English.

The parties' positions

The topic's fifth statement, which the test asks only to tell apart parties with similar results, is covered at the end of the article.

Hungarian as an official language

"In municipalities with a large Hungarian population, Hungarian should be an official language alongside Slovak." Today members of the minority in such municipalities can use their language in dealings with the authorities, for example in written submissions and replies, but Slovak remains the official language.

Only the Hungarian Alliance (strongly) and PS are in favour. Among its 13 points, the Hungarian Alliance proposes a law on the state's official languages that would make Hungarian an official language and require bilingual administration in areas where Hungarians live (szovetseg.sk). PS wants to review the State Language Act, merge the language laws into a single act on the official languages of Slovakia and offer services in minority languages in mixed areas (manifesto).

• SaS and Demokrati are in between: both propose a law on national minorities that includes language rights, but say nothing about Hungarian as an official language (SaS, 2027 programme).
• Smer's 2023 manifesto calls for reviewing schools in mixed areas so that everyone masters the state language (2023 manifesto, p. 6). Republika defends Slovak as the state and official language.
• The SNS is strongly against: in 2024 it backed tightening the language law so that Slovak always comes before minority languages (noviny.sk).
• The positions of Hlas, Hnutie Slovensko, KDH, Sme rodina and Právo na pravdu are estimated: these parties have not addressed Hungarian as an official language.

The Beneš decrees

"The 2025 law that makes it a crime to question the Beneš decrees should be repealed." Since December 2025 the Criminal Code has punished with up to six months in prison publicly denying or questioning the post-war settlement based on legal acts of the Czechoslovak Republic or the Slovak National Council.

The National Council passed the amendment on 11 December 2025 by 76 votes to 60 (vote). The Smer (40), Hlas (25) and SNS (8) groups and three non-attached MPs voted in favour. The PS (32), SaS (10) and KDH (9) groups, six MPs from the Hnutie Slovensko group (six others, including Igor Matovič, were absent) and three non-attached MPs voted against.

• The Hungarian Alliance strongly supports repeal: in April 2026 its leader, László Gubík, called for the so-called "lex Beneš" to be removed from the Criminal Code, and in December 2025 he urged the President not to sign the law (madarska-aliancia.sk).
• PS, SaS and Hnutie Slovensko are in favour: they voted against the amendment; PS leader Michal Šimečka called it unconstitutional.
• KDH is in between: it voted against the amendment and plans a court challenge, but its criticism focused on other parts of the law.
• Smer, Hlas and the SNS are strongly against repeal: they passed the law. Hlas called PS's reopening of the Beneš decrees issue an "extremely dangerous" step (strana-hlas.sk).
• The positions of Republika, Demokrati, Sme rodina and Právo na pravdu are estimated. Demokrati called for a veto of the amendment because, in its view, it weakens the fight against crime, but has not commented on the offence concerning the Beneš decrees.

Dual citizenship

"People who acquire another country's citizenship should be able to keep their Slovak citizenship." Today, anyone who voluntarily acquires another citizenship loses their Slovak one. The exceptions are acquiring it through marriage, birth or as a child and, since 2022, having lived in that country for at least five years.

Six parties are in favour. The Hungarian Alliance wants people to stop losing Slovak citizenship when they acquire another, and to restore the citizenship law in force before 2010 (2023 manifesto). SaS wants to give everyone back the right to dual citizenship, with bans only in specific cases such as members of the armed forces (2023 minorities programme). PS proposes allowing a second citizenship without losing the Slovak one for people with proven family or personal ties to that country (manifesto). Hnutie Slovensko pushed through the five-year exception in government in 2022 and its manifesto would extend it to shorter stays (2023 manifesto). KDH and Demokrati answered yes in the 2023 Volebná kalkulačka voting advice tool.

Against are Smer, most of whose group voted against the five-year exception in 2022 (vote), and the SNS and Sme rodina, which answered no in 2023 (Sme rodina allowed for exceptions, for example for athletes). The positions of Republika (against), Hlas and Právo na pravdu (in between) are estimated.

Roma integration

"The state should invest more in integrating marginalised Roma communities, for example in pre-school education and housing." According to the 2019 Atlas of Roma Communities, about 405,000 people in Slovakia live in 949 places with concentrations of marginalised Roma communities.

Seven parties are in favour. PS, Hnutie Slovensko, KDH and Demokrati are strongly in favour: among other things they propose early-childhood care and accessible pre-school places for children from these communities, an end to school segregation and support for housing (KDH, 2023 manifesto; Hnutie Slovensko, 2023 manifesto). Hlas is in favour: its education minister made pre-school education compulsory and aimed the 2025 reform at equal chances, especially for children from marginalised communities. SaS and the Hungarian Alliance are also in favour.

Against are Republika, which in 2025 described EU funds for Roma settlements as an outrageous expense (hnutie-republika.sk), and Právo na pravdu, which prioritises work and education for Roma but with clear rules and nothing given for free, and wants scrutiny of how more than €1 billion was spent (press release, 2026). Sme rodina is in between; the positions of Smer and the SNS are estimated, because their manifestos do not address the issue.

Additional statement: education and culture in Hungarian

"The state should do more to support education and culture in Hungarian." This statement is not part of the main test: the test asks it when several parties get similar results.

The Hungarian Alliance is strongly in favour: it wants more per-pupil funding for schools teaching in minority languages, a larger fund for minority culture and more Hungarian-language public broadcasting (2023 manifesto). PS (whose group urged the government in 2025 to give systematic support to minority educational, cultural and sports institutions) and Demokrati are in favour. Hlas, KDH, SaS and Sme rodina are in between: they support minority culture but do not explicitly promise more support for Hungarian-language education. Hnutie Slovensko is in between and Smer, the SNS, Republika and Právo na pravdu are against; all five of these positions are estimated.

Which parties are closest on this topic

To compare the parties pair by pair, we added up the gaps between their positions on the four statements of the main test (our calculation). Zero would mean identical positions throughout; the maximum is 16. Estimated positions count the same as the others.

On this topic the Hungarian Alliance stands furthest from the others: its average gap with the other eleven parties is 7.9 points, against 4.5 to 6.3 for every other party. It is closest to SaS (3) and PS (4), and furthest from the SNS (12) and Smer (11). The SNS and the Hungarian Alliance are the furthest apart of all: they differ by three points or more on language, the Beneš decrees and citizenship.

Five pairs differ by only one point. In each of them, however, at least one position is estimated, and for Smer and Sme rodina three are. These results should therefore be read with caution.

The governing parties Smer, Hlas and the SNS take the same position on the Beneš decrees and are all against on language (Hlas's position estimated); the opposition parties PS, SaS and Hnutie Slovensko are on the other side on both the decrees and citizenship. KDH, also in opposition, is closer to the governing parties on language (estimated) and in between on the decrees.

Read more

• All the statements on the topic, with sources: "Minorities".
• The parties' positions on every statement in the test: party comparison.
• Who's who among the parties: "Slovakia's political parties explained".
• Party pages: Smer, PS, Hlas, Hnutie Slovensko, KDH, SaS, SNS, Republika, Hungarian Alliance, Demokrati, Sme rodina, Právo na pravdu.
• Find out which party is closest to your views across all topics: take the test.