No Alternative To Opposition Cooperation In Hungary Says Gyurcsány
- 15 Oct 2019 7:37 AM
- Hungary Matters
Commenting on the outcome of Hungary’s 2019 local elections, Ferenc Gyurcsány, leader of the leftist Democratic Coalition (DK), said there was “no alternative” to a broad cooperation between the country’s opposition parties.
Gyurcsány told a press conference that Sunday’s ballot had made it clear that “the majority of the country wants change and has had enough of [ruling] Fidesz.” If the opposition plays its cards right, it can restore the country to the people in 2022, he added.
Describing the election outcome as “the beginning of Fidesz’s Waterloo”, the party leader urged the opposition politicians who won their respective races to reveal to the public what the ruling parties had done with Hungary’s cities, towns and villages and “how Fidesz squandered the resources and opportunities of the various municipalities”.
He also called on the opposition mayors to prove that it was also possible to serve the country in an honest way. “The deceitful regime of the System of National Cooperation failed on Sunday,” the former prime minister said.
“They ignored, mocked, blackmailed and threatened us yet not only are we still here but we have won.” He said it was time for democrats to “lift their heads and believe that it’s worth fighting and there’s a chance for victory”.
Speaking about his own party, Gyurcsány said DK had significantly increased its number of councillors and mayors. Asked which political formation could turn out to be the leading force of the opposition, he said all opposition parties had their own legitimate leadership and none of them wanted to be led by someone else.
Gyurcsány said the most important thing the opposition needed was cooperation rather than a leading party. Asked to comment on the reasons behind the opposition’s strong performance on Sunday, he said “even dictatorships that are more dishonest and filthier than this one reach their eleventh hour”, adding that it was hard to tell “when the moment will come when the people wake up”.
MTI Photo: Kovács Tamás
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