The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and Jobbik have both seen their support rise, while Fidesz dipped slightly in the newest Republikon poll. While the series of mass protests, the contentious anti-CEU legislation and Jobbik’s billboard campaign against Fidesz corruption have resulted in a modest boost in popular support for the two largest opposition parties, all of these events have had […]
Fidesz support in a closely watched by-election in the Budapest district of Zugló has collapsed, with the left-wing opposition winning a sweeping victory. Bence Bitskey, the joint candidate for the Democratic Coalition, the Hungarian Socialist Party, the small Dialogue party and a local civic group garnered 790 votes, compared to just 404 for Fidesz. While the left won in this […]
Two municipal by-elections are scheduled for Sunday in Budapest and both could serve as an indication of what impact half a dozen mass protests (each drawing tens of thousands) and the scandal surrounding Central European University have had on voting intentions, less than a year before national elections. Both by-elections are in areas that, in any other country, would likely […]
For years Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been able to control his Fidesz party with an iron fist. Sharp exchanges remained within the walls of Fidesz offices while the leadership always showed a unified front to the public. His recent attack on the George Soros-backed Central European University (CEU), and the Lex CEU law which was approved by the […]
Every Jobbik MP has agreed to ask the Constitutional Court to review the Orbán’s regime’s bill that aims to shut down Central European University. Since all centre-left opposition MPs are doing the same, with Jobbik’s support, they have surpassed the minimum threshold of a quarter of all members of parliament needed to force a judicial review of the legislation. Fidesz, […]
Starting January 1st, 2018, Budapest’s Central European University (CEU) will no longer be permitted to enrol new students in any programs, unless an agreement is reached between the United States government, the State of New York and Hungary’s Orbán government no later than September and unless CEU opens a new campus in the U.S. A total of 123 MPs voted […]
The Orbán government announced that it is turning to the people to help it “stop Brussels” on six different fronts. The ruling Fidesz party is launching another so-called “national consultation,” which is nothing more than a polemical and partisan campaign exercise, using taxpayers’ money, aimed at convincing Hungarians that they are at war with the West, the European Union, with […]
Hungary’s governing party got a rare slap on the wrist on Friday, after the National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (NAIH) indicated in a statement that the country’s intelligence agencies were not to be used by political players for partisan purposes. The statement comes after Szilárd Németh, a prominent Fidesz MP and vice chair of Parliament’s National […]
László Botka, the Hungarian Socialist Party’s (MSZP) candidate for prime minister, is statistically tied in popularity with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, according to a poll by the Republikon Intézet. Mr. Orbán’s favorability rating rests at 46%, followed by Mr. Botka at 44%. Gábor Vona, the leader of the Jobbik party, stands at 31% among the main contenders for prime minister […]
A number of readers noticed Sunday evening that HFP had been hacked on two separate occasions. In both cases, György Lázár’s most recent article on opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin among some Hungarians was deleted and replaced with a note from a hacker, using a pseudonym which I will not repeat here, so as to not give him/her added […]
