An ethnic Hungarian, he was born in Cârţa. He completed primary school in Ineu-Ciuc, and the gymnasium in his native locality, while practising ice hockey in the school's team. After completing high school in Târgu Mureş, he enrolled in the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, graduating as a veterinarian in 1993, and then in the Faculty of Philosophy of the Babeş-Bolyai University, graduating in 1998. Following the Revolutions of 1989, Hunor Kelemen was one of the founders of the Hungarian language cultural magazines Jelenlét and later became deputy editor in chief. After 1993 he also collaborated with the Hungarian language magazine Korunk, and between 1990 and 1997 he was editor of cultural and political shows for the Radio Cluj, part of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company. In 1995 Hunor Kelemen published his first poetry volume in Hungarian language, Mínuszévek, for which he was awarded the Debut Prize of the Writers' Union of Romania in 1996. He further published a novel, A madárijesztők halála, in 1999, and a second poetry volume, A szigetlakó, in 2001, both in Hungarian language. Kelemen entered politics in 1997, when he was appointed as Secretary of State from the UDMR in the Romanian government's Ministry of Culture. He held this post until 2000, when he was elected in the lower house of the Romanian Parliament on the UDMR list. He was re-elected in 2004 and in 2008, obtaining over 50% of the votes in his electoral college in the latter elections. In June 2009, the UDMR Council of the Union Representatives voted Hunor Kelemen as candidate for the office of President of Romania in that year's November elections. On this occasion Kelemen declared his program will include a proposal for Hungarian ethnic autonomy, in a way "that would not upset the Romanian ethnics". In July, at a summer camp organised by the UDMR at Băile Tuşnad, he acknowledged that, as a Hungarian ethnic, he had no chance to win, but he presented the motives that led to his candidature: the desire of the Hungarian community of Romania to have a candidate of its own, the need to fill the traditional Hungarian segment in Romanian politics, and the need to present the message of the Hungarian minority to the Romanian majority. He received 372,764 votes. He performed better in the regions with important Hungarian communities, winning a majority in the counties of Harghita and Covasna, and the second place in Mureş and Satu Mare. On December 20, 2009, Emil Boc, nominated as prime-minister by the re-elected Traian Băsescu, proposed Hunor Kelemen as the Minister of Culture in the PDL-UDMR coalition government. The proposal was met with strong protests by PDL vice-president Cezar Preda, who declared that his party made the "greatest political mistake of the last years". Following unofficial protests from the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, the Religious Affairs, previously subordinated to the Ministry of Culture, were put under the direct control of the prime-minister. Reportedly, the Orthodox Church was dissatisfied with being subordinated to a minister of a different denomination. The cabinet was approved by the Parliament on December 23, 2009. Kelemen left government in May 2012 when the Răzvan Ungureanu government lost a vote of confidence and was replaced by one led by Victor Ponta.
