The first free elections in Hungary after the collapse of communism took place in 1990. The election of members of parliament in the summer was followed by local authority elections in the autumn. This poster was issued by the Alliance of Young Democrats during the local authority elections.

The typographical design by György Kemény is based on a linguistic and cultural pun. The first two syllables of the Hungarian word ‘helyhatóság’ (‘local authority’) sound like the interjection ‘hejha’ (‘oh’, ‘it would be’). It relates to another poster designed by Kemény which comprised a number of sentences encouraging the public to participate in the elections, each beginning with ‘Hejha’. Although the interjection ‘Hejha’ has no direct meaning on its own, it recalls a line from the 19th century epic poem Miklós Toldi by János Arany expressing the longing of the hero Toldi to be among the warriors of the Black Army of King Matthias (‘Hej! ha én is én is köztetek mehetnék,/ Szép magyar vitézek, aranyos leventék!’).

The colour orange and the form of an orange fruit were fundamental elements of the party’s graphic identity. Orange recalls the expression ‘Hungarian orange’ from Peter Bacso’s film ‘A tanú’ (The Witness, 1969) that criticised the anomalies of the communist regime in the nineteen fifties. One of the lines from this extremely popular tragi-comedy rapidly became a catchphrase in Hungary: ’it is little bit yellow and a little bit sour, but it’s ours’. In this phrase, people saw the essence of life under communism aptly formulated. Magyar Narancs (Hungarian Orange) was the title of a newspaper, founded 1989 by young publishers, several of whom became active members of the Alliance of Young Democrats. Another point of reference was the Polish opposition movement ‘Orange Alternative’.