The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) launched its new campaign and national tour on Thursday and kept its central slogan as simple as possible: “Let the rich pay!” Standing in front of a grey, socialist era apartment block and a billboard featuring László Botka, the Socialist candidate for prime minister in 2018 with the words: “Let’s do justice — Let the […]
“Those who have, those who are rich, will find themselves kindly contributing more to solving the country’s problems,” quipped László Botka, the Mayor of Szeged and the Hungarian Socialist Party’s (MSZP) candidate for prime minister in the 2018 elections to the 444.hu news site on Tuesday. The interview highlighted the left-wing turn that MSZP is taking under Mr. Botka, signalling […]
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 […]
The Momentum Mozgalom’s campaign to launch a referendum that would force Budapest City Council to withdraw their bid to host the 2024 Summer Games is heading into its final, critical stretch. According to the most recent statistics, Momentum–with the help of the Politics Can Be Different green party (LMP), the Együtt party, Párbeszéd (Dialogue) and some modest assistance from Socialist […]
Just over a year before the 2018 elections, a new poll suggests that the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) is seeing a modest rise in its popularity, while Jobbik is continuing a trend that has been apparent for months–the party that is trying to move away from its far-right roots is faltering. According to a poll released Sunday by the Publicus […]
Anyone who followed politics in Hungary during the nineties and in the early years of the current century remembers József Torgyán–the colourful chairman of the Independent Smallholders’ Party, former Minister of Agriculture and a true connoisseur of hyperbole. Mr. Torgyán’s wife and also a former Member of Parliament, Mária Cseh, confirmed that her husband died at their home in Budapest […]
The executive of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) unanimously nominated László Botka to lead the party into the 2018 national elections, likely to be held next April. Forty-three year old Mr. Botka, the popular and long-time mayor of Szeged who beat his Fidesz rival by an impressive 22% landslide victory in the 2014 municipal elections, has come across as more […]
There is a sense that key politicians and thinkers on the left are gradually introducing the possibility–and for many opposition voters the bitter pill–of a possible partnership between the country’s main left-centre opposition parties and Jobbik. After former Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy declared that those in the left-centre opposition who refused an alliance with Jobbik were being unnecessarily “squeamish” and […]
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. […]
Budapest’s historic skyline is about to change dramatically, with the Fidesz-controlled General Assembly of the Hungarian capital approving a 120-meter high skyscraper, even though all opposition parties expressed concern about the lack of consultation and the lack of time to review the plans before the motion was rushed through council. The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) suggested that investors close to […]
