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law adoptionVerified

Hungary adopts Act LV of 2018, replacing the 1989 assembly statute with new police ban grounds

On 20 July 2018 the National Assembly adopted Act LV of 2018 on the right of assembly, replacing the 1989 statute and widening prior-ban grounds, including dignity and private-life clauses after the Seventh Amendment. In the causal graph this event weakens Freedom of Assembly, a driver that weakens Voice and Accountability Gap from the Highest Governance Score — a worsening welfare path.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

On 20 July 2018 the National Assembly adopted Act LV of 2018 on the right of assembly, replacing the 1989 statute and widening prior-ban grounds, including dignity and private-life clauses after the Seventh Amendment. The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union recorded the restraint. This Fact is that dated assembly statute. It is not the 2018 Seventh Amendment taken alone, not a later Pride ban amendment, and not a personality. Official text sits in the National Legal Database; the HCLU analysis is the independent file.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Viktor Orbán

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    verified

    Prime minister whose government or governing majority advanced the named measure. The institutional source ties the measure to the governing legal program under Orbán. Contribution size is permanently_blocked (no sourced fraction); provisional 0.4 is stored only because contributions.size is NOT NULL — not a sourced magnitude. Attached by Pack6 land-now subset; the fact's own primary source documents the measure.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactHungary adopts Act LV of 2018, replacing the 1989 assembly statute with new police ban grounds
    2. weakensDriverFreedom of Assembly
    3. weakensIndicators (2)Voice and Accountability Gap from the Highest Governance Score
    Worsening path

    impact weight 0.64 · verified

    The institutional act directly changes the named condition of freedom of assembly; weakening matches -1. Impact type and direction use the same sign convention. Weight basis: Legislated constraints on assembly are directly relevant to freedom of assembly and merit a medium-strong enacted-law weight. Weight 0.64 is the pack's qualitative severity class for this event, not an empirical coefficient.

    • Voice and Accountability Gap from the Highest Governance Score

      via Freedom of Assembly

      Worse

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.39 (weight 0.64 × strength 0.61)

      Observed

      45 Score · 45 above the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      7 readings, 2018–2024: rose from 43.8 Score to 45 Score.

      Normal is zero · any amount = worse

    • Clean elections index

      via Freedom of Assembly

      Worse

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.28 (weight 0.64 × strength 0.43)

      Observed

      0.53 score from 0 to 1 · 0.34 below the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      125 readings, 1900–2024: rose from 0.17 score from 0 to 1 to 0.53 score from 0 to 1.

      Above normal = better

    1. FactHungary adopts Act LV of 2018, replacing the 1989 assembly statute with new police ban grounds
    2. strengthensDriverIlliberal state capture in Hungary
    3. weakensIndicators (6)Access to justice index
    Worsening path

    impact weight 0.55 · Effect from 20 July 2018 · verified

    Replacing the 1989 assembly statute with wider police-ban grounds is the street-rights sequel of the child-protection lock.

    • Access to justice index

      via Illiberal state capture in Hungary

      Worse

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.25 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      0.62 score from 0 to 1 · 0.25 below the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      125 readings, 1900–2024: rose from 0.37 score from 0 to 1 to 0.62 score from 0 to 1.

      Above normal = better

    • Alternative sources of information index

      via Illiberal state capture in Hungary

      Worse

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.25 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      0.62 score from 0 to 1 · 0.23 below the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      125 readings, 1900–2024: rose from 0.35 score from 0 to 1 to 0.62 score from 0 to 1.

      Above normal = better

    • Clean elections index

      via Illiberal state capture in Hungary

      Worse

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.25 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      0.53 score from 0 to 1 · 0.34 below the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      125 readings, 1900–2024: rose from 0.17 score from 0 to 1 to 0.53 score from 0 to 1.

      Above normal = better

    All indicators on this path (6)

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.2025 Rule of Law Report – Country Chapter on HungaryEuropean Commission · verified
  2. 2.Existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values on which the Union is foundedEuropean Parliament · verified

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorViktor Orbán
  2. contributed toFactHungary adopts Act LV of 2018, replacing the 1989 assembly statute with new police ban grounds
  3. weakensDrivers (2)Freedom of Assembly
  4. weakensIndicatorVoice and Accountability Gap from the Highest Governance Score

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Hungary adopts Act LV of 2018, replacing the 1989 assembly statute with new police ban grounds. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/hu-assembly-act-2018

https://factrail.ai/facts/hu-assembly-act-2018

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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