The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) has named the 43 year old mayor of Szeged, László Botka, as its candidate for prime minister in the next parliamentary elections, expected in April 2018. Mr. Botka was merely 29 years old when he was first elected as mayor of Hungary’s third largest city in 2002 and he has since been re-elected three times. […]
Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party had, by any standards, a terrible last month or so, yet new polling figures suggest that the popularity of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government did not suffer at all. It was revealed that Ghaith Pharaon, a Saudi businessman wanted by the FBI and Interpol for wire fraud, racketeering and allegedly funding terrorists, conducted business with a company tied […]
Complete dysfunction continues in the Hungarian left-centre opposition and the president of the Hungarian Socialist Party (Magyar Szocialista Párt–MSZP) appeared to exacerbate the situation with a defeatist, bewildering and unnecessary statement. Gyula Molnár was speaking to the conservative HírTV news network within the context of the shambolic negotiations between left-wing, democratic parties aimed at launching primary elections as a first […]
Communication must truly be everything and reality is perhaps little more than a fleeting and malleable perception. The first public opinion poll conducted after the anti-migrant referendum, which failed to reach the minimum turnout threshold to be considered valid, shows major gains for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party and a marked drop in support for Jobbik–a party that […]
Vienna Capital Partners, the Austrian private equity investor, which owns the firm that published Hungary’s now defunct Népszabadság daily, seems to be providing such a stark example of corporate greed and irresponsibility that political foes and economic rivals from all across the spectrum are joining together in protest. Hungarian conservative publications, left-centre publications, a newspaper in Slovakia and even Hungary’s […]
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s anti-migrant referendum proved to be the first major defeat suffered by Fidesz in a decade. Fidesz has won every election and referendum since fall 2006, including the 2006 municipal and regional elections, the 2008 referendum calling for the elimination of compulsory medical fees and university tuition, as well as the 2010 and the 2014 parliamentary and […]
Mátyás Eörsi, a prominent member of the Democratic Coalition (Demokratikus Koalíció – DK) and formerly a Member of Parliament for the now defunct Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) announced that he spoke with Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó and the Orbán government intends to nominate him for the position of General Secretary of the Community of Democracies. This international organization includes countries, […]
Two of Hungary’s left-centre opposition parties demonstrated on Sunday in Budapest against the Orbán government’s inhumane handling of the refugee crisis. The Socialists, however, have been relatively quiet on the issue of the refugees, probably realizing that this is not a topic that will win them many new votes. In contrast, political leaders in both the Democratic Coalition (DK) and […]
An unpublished Ipsos opinion poll commissioned two weeks before a critical by-election in a traditionally centre-right Veszprém riding suggested that Zoltán Kész–the independent candidate supported by most of the left-centre opposition–stood a semi-realistic chance of beating Fidesz in a constituency that it had long held. The leaked poll found that Fidesz’s candidate, Lajos Némedi, was ahead of Mr. Kész by […]
An open letter to: Mr. Maximilian Teleki President Hungarian American Coalition Mr. Frank Koszorús, Jr. President The American Hungarian Federation Mr. Eugene Megyesy Senior Advisor to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán Former Honorary Consul General of Hungary in Colorado Budapest, December 4, 2014 Dear Messrs. Presidents, Dear Max, Frank and Gene, As you are aware several senior Hungarian individuals have recently […]
