Plans to sabotage Hungary’s anti-migrant referendum gain steam

It’s time to take the Hungarian Two-tailed Dog Party seriously, after they managed to raise more than 15 million forints ($56,000) in just one week to publicize their idea of sabotaging the Orbán government’s looming anti-migrant and anti-EU referendum. Known in Hungarian as the Magyar Kétfarkú Kutya Párt (MKKP), the party which started off as grassroots satire of Hungarian politics, officially registered as a political party in 2014. Their 3,500 volunteers have now decided to play a very visible and active role in the campaign leading up to the Orbán government’s referendum scheduled for October 2nd. In stark contrast with the Hungarian Socialist Party, the Democratic Coalition and the Együtt (Together) party, the MKKP is calling on Hungarians not to boycott the referendum, but to cast an invalid vote by scribbling on their ballot. According to the MKKP’s rationale: “There is no such thing as a good answer to a stupid question, but we can still send a message to the powers that be.”

The logo of the Hungarian Two-tailed Dog Party

The logo of the Hungarian Two-tailed Dog Party

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán needs to convince at least 50% of eligible voters (or just over 4 million Hungarians) to cast a valid ballot in his anti-EU referendum. In other words, 4 million Hungarians must decide whether to vote yes or no to the following question: “Do you want the European Union to be able to prescribe the obligatory settlement of non-Hungarian citizens in Hungary, without the agreement of Parliament?” The Orbán government is leading the “no” campaign. There is no doubt that the “no” vote will win. The question is whether or not the government will be able to convince more than 50% of Hungarians to participate in the plebiscite, failing which it not only have no binding power, but it will be a political flop for Fidesz.

Hungarian opposition parties have not been especially successful in convincing their supporters to stay home–their messages and campaigns lack coordination. Some opposition supporters seem likely to vote with Mr. Orbán, thus against the “obligatory settlement” of migrants in Hungary by the EU, even though the very suggestion that the EU forces settlement of foreigners on member states, without input from the government representatives of these states, is nonsensical. Gábor Fodor’s tiny Hungarian Liberal Party is following the dubious strategy of calling its supporters to vote “yes” (thus against) Orbán, even though by doing this, the party is increases the chance that participation will rise above 50%. The Politics Can Be Different green party (Lehet Más a Politika– LMP) is suggesting that party supporters simply vote their conscience and is offering no other instruction to voters.

In this murky, convoluted world, the Hungarian Two-tailed Dog Party offers the clearest message and they are getting ready to plaster the country with billboards and posters to this effect. The 15 million forints raised thus far is enough to put up 500 billboards and to print 100,000 additional posters. MKKP volunteers are preparing to sign contracts to place their billboards within then next week and 3,500 activists (who the party refers to as “passivists”) will be in charge of putting up the tens of thousands of smaller A4-size posters. Gergely Kovács, President of the MKKP, told the media that the party now has a national network of activists to coordinate the campaign. One of the campaign billboards, a spoof of government billboards, refers to the historic, 9th century Hungarian conquest of Central Europe. Hungarians came to the region from Asia and struck fear among Europeans. “Did you know that immigrants committed the Hungarian conquest too?”–reads the billboard.

A planned billboard--Did you know that immigrants committed the Hungarian conquest?

A planned billboard–“Immigrants committed the Hungarian conquest as well!”

In addition to the billboards and posters, the MKKP is about to release a mobile app, which will give voters ideas and options on how they can disqualify their ballot.

When election officials offer public reports on turn-out every two to three hours on the day of voting, these will take into consideration all of the invalid or disqualified votes cast. But when the votes are tallied at the end of the evening, only valid votes will count towards the 50%+1 minimum participation threshold. As well, beyond listing the “yes” and “no” vote totals, the exact percentage of disqualified votes will also have to be included in the final results.

Popular news sites, such as Index and hvg.hu, are giving the MKKP campaign lots of free exposure and publicity. Based on the ease with which the party raised 15 million forints in under a week, it is safe to say that there are  many Hungarians who are looking to make their voices heard on October 2nd, but in a creative way and one that is an appropriate response to the Orbán regime’s cynical and mendacious campaign.

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