Imre Mécs

{{Short description|Hungarian politician (1933–2023)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Imre Mécs

| honorific-suffix =

| image = Mécs Imre.jpg

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| primeminister1 =

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1933|09|04|df=y}}

| birth_place = Budapest, Hungary

| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|01|19|1933|09|04|df=y}}

| death_place = Budapest, Hungary

| father = {{No self-redirect|Imre Mécs|}}

| mother = {{#ifexist:Irén Klára Lengyel |Irén Klára Lengyel}}

| party = SZDSZ

| spouses = {{marriage|Fruzsina Magyar|1985}}

| children = {{count|Mónika |Imre |László |Máté |Anna |Bálint |János |Dávid}}

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Imre Mécs (4 September 1933 – 19 January 2023) was a Hungarian politician. Following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, he was sentenced to death, then his sentence was mitigated to a prison sentence. He was released in 1963 and worked as an electrical engineer. Later he became a founding member of the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ). He was elected on the SZDSZ party ticket to the Hungarian Parliament in 1990 and served several consecutive terms. Over differences with his party, he quit SZDSZ and was elected on the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) ticket (but not a member of) in 2006. He did not manage to win a seat in the 2010 elections, ending his parliamentary career. In January 2011 he rejoined his old party, SZDSZ.[http://index.hu/belfold/2011/01/15/mecs_imre_visszalepett_az_szdsz-be/ Mécs Imre visszalépett az SZDSZ-be] – Index.hu 2011.

From 1994 to 1998 he was the chairman of the parliamentary committee of national defense.[http://www.parlament.hu/internet/plsql/ogy_kpv.kepv_adat?p_azon=m079 Parliamentary data on Mécs] Until 1996 he was one of SZDSZ's leaders (ügyvivő) and he also ran for the position of SZDSZ party chairman, but his candidacy was unsuccessful.[http://www.mkogy.hu/kepviselo/elet/m079.htm Biographical data on the website of the Hungarian Parliament] He came into some conflict with SZDSZ over the 2005 presidential election. Most of SZDSZ decided to abstain{{cite web|url=http://index.hu/belfold/kozt0604/|title=Államfőválasztás: Gyurcsány ellép Szili Katalin mellől?|website=Index.hu|date=4 June 2005|access-date=21 January 2023|language=hu}} while Mécs voted for MSZP nominee Katalin Szili. Because of this vote he was later accused of disloyalty towards SZDSZ.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mno.hu/portal/328499 |title=Mécs Imrét árulózza Eörsi Mátyás |access-date=1 July 2011 |archive-date=27 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927062512/http://www.mno.hu/portal/328499 |url-status=dead }} In 2010 Mécs proposed a small change to the constitution, which still at that time referred to "the party",[http://nol.hu/belfold/mecs_imre_elhagyna_egy_betut_az_alkotmanybol Mécs Imre elhagyna egy betűt az alkotmányból] implying one party rule, as before the End of Communism in Hungary.