Secondary list of nominees completed – meeting of the Academy’s Nomination Committee

MTA’s Nomination Committee, which is responsible for the preparations for the election of the new leaders of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, met on 22 January 2020. The election for the assembly is scheduled to be on 4-5 May 2020. The elections will be held as the three-year-long terms of the president, the secretary-general, the deputy secretary-general and the three vice-presidents expire in May 2020. According to the code of the Academy, major officials are elected for three years, and each of them can be reelected for only one more three-year-long term. Five members of the leadership were elected in 2014, and reelected in 2017.

Academician József Vörös presented the primary list of nominees to the members of the Nomination Committee on 6 November 2019. This list was compiled based on a poll among eligible voters. After this meeting, Vörös met the nominees on the list and explored whether they wished to run for the positions.

At the meeting on 22 January 2020, Vörös presented the secondary list, which was formulated after discussions with the nominees. This list consists of the names of those who are willing to be candidates at the May 2020 MTA assembly.

The updated secondary list accepted by the Nomination Committee is as follows.

Presidential candidates

Tamás Freund, full member of MTA

Csaba Pléh, full member of MTA

Eörs Szathmáry, full member of MTA

Candidates for the position of secretary-general

Gábor Blaskó, full member of MTA

László Péter Kollás, full member of MTA

Candidates for the position of deputy secretary-general

Attila Demény, full member of MTA

Anna Erdei, full member of MTA

Candidates for the position of vice-president (life sciences)

Ervin Balázs, full member of MTA

György Kosztolányi, full member of MTA

Eörs Szathmáry, full member of MTA

Candidates for the position of vice-president (social sciences)

András Kertész, full member of MTA

Vanda Lamm, full member of MTA

Candidates for the position of vice-president (natural sciences)

József Bokor, full member of MTA

Ferenc Hudecz, full member of MTA

Candidates for the elected members of the presidency (life sciences)

László Hunyady, full member of MTA

Eörs Szathmáry, full member of MTA

Candidates for the elected members of the presidency (social sciences)

István Kenesi, corresponding member of MTA

Ignác Romsics, full member of MTA

Candidates for the elected members of the presidency (natural sciences)

László L. Kiss, full member of MTA

Mihály Pósfai, full member of MTA

The Nomination Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for 19 February 2020. The candidates’ plans will be discussed at this meeting.

The candidate’s programmes – including those of the presidential candidates and the candidates for the position of secretary-general – will be made available to the eligible members of the General Assembly following the meeting on 19 February 2020. The nomination procedure will be closed at the 11 March 2020 meeting of the Nomination Committee. The documents and lists to be delivered to the members of the assembly for the election of officials (4 and 5 May 2020) will be approved at this meeting.

The Nomination Committee declared that the candidates running for the positions of president and secretary-general are to be offered an opportunity to take part in a debate to present their programmes, most likely in April. The exact schedule and the rules of the debate will be elaborated by the Nomination Committee.