Some of the smaller “new left”-style parties are planning a joint, mass protest for August 20th, Hungary’s national holiday, in support of investigative journalists who will become official targets of the Orbán government’s vitriol in the coming months. The small Együtt party is spearheading the demonstration along Budapest’s Szabad Sajtó (Free Press) boulevard, with support from Zugló Mayor Gergely Karácsony […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) is taking a leaf from France’s political playbook and is suggesting a system of opposition primaries ahead of Hungary’s 2018 parliamentary elections, in order to ensure that the liberals and the left-centre field a single candidate in each of the 106 ridings and also nominate a joint candidate for prime minister. The recent primaries among […]
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 […]
“We need to understand that its not Soviet tanks that keep Viktor Orbán in power–it’s societal apathy. And we can only overcome this apathy if in specific instances we are able to step out of our own comfort zone,” said Gergely Karácsony, the popular mayor of the Budapest’s Zugló district and founder of the leftist Dialogue for Hungary (Párbeszéd Magyarországért) […]
On Saturday, Hungarians were shocked to discover that the publication of Népszabadság–the country’s largest circulation political daily newspaper–was suspended indefinitely. The paper, with a paid daily circulation of 38,000 copies, no longer appeared in print, it’s rich online archive of articles and its dynamic website are all gone, journalists and workers have all been locked out of their offices, their […]
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, […]
