Rivalry Trumps Cooperation Among Opposition Parties in Hungary
- 23 Nov 2023 12:50 PM
- BudaPost
An independent analyst forecasts an unprecedented defeat for the opposition in next year’s local and European elections.
On Index, Tamás Péter believes Momentum politician Anna Donáth is launching one diatribe after another against the Democratic Coalition because she fears that her party is sinking into insignificance. He doesn’t disagree with Donáth’s criticism, but finds it naïve to believe that honesty and morality can lead to political success in our ‘post-truth world’.
The Democratic Coalition, he writes, is the only professionally organised opposition party today and by far the strongest among at least seven parties that would like to defeat the incumbent government. However, Péter continues, party leader Ferenc Gyurcsány is an extremely divisive political figure, and the DK will therefore never be able to win an election on its own.
Ahead of next year’s local and European elections, Péter would find it imperative for the opposition parties to unite if they want to avoid a catastrophic defeat.
Bitter Rivalry Prevents Alliance Among Opposition Parties
A left-wing guest-commentator urges opponents of the government to unite for next year’s elections.
In Népszava, Béla Fábry laments the fact that opposition politicians lay the emphasis on criticising each other rather than considering victory over the incumbent government as their primary objective. Fábry, who only appears occasionally in public, mentions as an example Momentum luminary Anna Donáth who has recently declared an opposition victory unimaginable as long as the Democratic Coalition is the leading force.
He adds that other opposition personalities have shown similar dislike of their rivals, whereby he doesn’t find it surprising that the pro-opposition public is growing weary of parties and politics. As a result, NGOs are becoming increasingly popular, and try to increase their influence by dissociating themselves from opposition parties.
However, Fábry writes, such parties and NGOs can only put an end to what he calls the current dictatorship by joining forces. He also urges opposition-leaning analysts to stop suggesting that the incumbent regime cannot be overcome in parliamentary elections. Such analyses, he concludes, clearly play into the government’s hands.
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