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Jobbik’s Gábor Vona and his Hanukkah greetings
Today Ákos Hadházy, co-chair of LMP, managed to retain his position despite opposition from András Schiffer and the admittedly ineffectual smear campaign of the Fidesz-inspired media. Hadházy’s...
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Momentum’s anti-Olympics drive has momentum
As is evident from the government media, the Orbán government is mighty upset over the early success of the Momentum Movement’s signature drive to hold a referendum on whether Budapest should host the...
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Total disarray among the democratic opposition parties
A few months ago I started a folder called “Opposition Parties: Dissension and Unity.” Well, by now the unity which a few months ago had a small chance of becoming reality can safely be buried. The...
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The heist of two million euros
Three days ago, thanks to 444.hu, the Hungarian public at last learned about a robbery that had actually taken place during the night of April 7. In the last three months not a word about it has leaked...
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Alcohol and sex: The case of LMP’s Péter Ungár
We left the youthful leaders of Momentum, a new political formation with lofty ambitions, at their three-day festival, which was supposed to attract new followers and produce much needed cash for the...
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Bernadett Szél hopes to be Hungary’s next prime minister
Although Bernadett Szél’s name can be found in scores of posts on Hungarian Spectrum over the years, I don’t think that I ever devoted an entire post to this popular female politician, the co-chair of...
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Another miracle: Eight-party working document on Hungary’s electoral system
Today seems an appropriate time to look at much needed changes to the Hungarian electoral law. The German polls just closed, and yesterday eight Hungarian left-of-center opposition parties agreed to...
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MSZP’s “generous offer” rejected
Let’s continue with party politics, especially since yesterday the socialists came out with an “extremely generous offer.” What is the party’s proposal? For the complete unity of the democratic forces,...
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László Botka’s resignation ends a nine-month ordeal
Yesterday I promised that I would return to the national consultation on the Soros Plan since last night’s post contained only a short introduction and a translation of the propositions and...
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Another attempt to silence Jobbik
In the last few days we have witnessed an entirely new form of pressure being exerted on Jobbik, currently the largest opposition party in Hungary, by the Orbán government with the assistance of the...
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Conservative awakening in Hungary
About a year and a half ago I created a folder devoted to “internal divisions” within Fidesz. At that time there were a few signs of differences of opinion among the top Fidesz leaders, which to me...
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Another abortive attempt at forging a united democratic opposition against Orbán
While some conservatives are showing a willingness to join forces with the “democratic opposition” parties, the situation on the left is still in disarray. My hope was that, with the retirement of...
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Negotiations drag on, but there are a couple of bright spots on the horizon
Those who think that the most important task of the opposition parties is joint action and cooperation because otherwise there is no chance whatsoever of removing Viktor Orbán from power are pretty...
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Old-timers offer a helping hand to the democratic opposition
About a year ago György Bolgár invited me for a telephone interview on his Klub Rádió program. At that time he was running a series called “What is to be done?” People were supposed to offer ideas on...
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Ahead of the election: LMP and DK are off and running
In case you missed it, today is the official beginning of the election campaign, and two opposition parties, LMP and DK, gathered their troops to energize them. The keynote speaker for LMP was the...
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The political landscape after Hódmezővásárhely
One thing is certain. The next 40 days will be full of excitement, disappointment, exhilaration. People interested in politics are not going to have a dull moment. Election campaigns are usually full...
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A threatening, shameful speech draws the opposition closer together
A day purportedly devoted to the events of the 1848 revolution turned into a massive election campaign, consisting primarily of a baleful attempt on Viktor Orbán’s part to remain in power against a...
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Negotiations (or talks if one prefers) have begun among opposition politicians
Even as the leaders of MSZP-P, DK, and LMP met to work out a strategy for an electoral victory, I looked at the projected results in all 106 districts. The exercise took me about two hours, but by the...
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Can the opposition parties “hold their noses” and perhaps win an election?
Yesterday, a few minutes after the discussions between representatives of MSZP-P-DK and LMP had ended, based on limited information, I could report only that MSZP-P-DK had rejected negotiations with...
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The ineptitude of the Hungarian left-of-center opposition
I’m afraid that, despite the many signs of renewed interest in the election and a widely perceptible desire to remove Viktor Orbán from power, the members of the opposition are not helping the...
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