At the end of May I wrote an article about the sorry state of LMP which, after the election, was showing signs of disintegration. In that post I briefly summarized LMP’s history between 2009 and 2018, noting its internal dissension and, as a result, changes in its leadership. LMP always identified itself as a liberal, left-of-center party with roots in Hungary’s conservative heritage, but with the recent personnel changes the conservative strains have come to the fore. The new co-chair, László Lóránt Keresztes, believes that “the left-of-center opposition, including LMP, committed a historic mistake when it didn’t take a clear position on the migration crisis and handed the issue to Viktor Orbán.” As far as he is concerned, LMP, as a 21st-century party, should cooperate only with the two other 21st-century parties–Jobbik, established in 2003, and Momentum, formed in 2017. These three parties together will be the ones that will defeat Viktor Orbán’s regime, claims the new co-chairman.
In the last two days LMP’s reputation has taken more hits, from which it may not recover. But just before the news of the latest scandals broke, Tamás Bauer, an economist and a sharp-eyed political commentator, wrote a perceptive opinion piece in HVG with the title “21st-century parties.” Bauer’s conclusion is that cooperation between the left-of-center parties MSZP, Párbeszéd, and DK, on the one hand, and Jobbik and LMP, on the other, is impossible given their divergent political views. Jobbik and LMP share “Fidesz’s nationalism, protectionism, and inhumane refugee policies.” Bauer offers several examples to show that the leadership of LMP truly regrets that they didn’t follow Orbán’s policies, which turned out to be foolproof. As Péter Ungár, LMP’s new star, argues, Orbán’s image is that of “the leader of the local folks against the global elite.” His strategy is built “on the myth of the oppressed freedom fighters against an international conspiracy,” while the opposition parties with their constant references to Europe “ended up as the local defenders of the global elite.” Ungár, just like the Fidesz propagandists, sees the conflict between western democracies and the Orbán government primarily as attempts by the global elite to spread its economic influence instead of a genuine concern over Viktor Orbán’s autocratic illiberalism. All in all, in weighty political questions, Fidesz, Jobbik, and LMP belong to the same camp, concludes Bauer.
The main argument against this branding is LMP’s persistent criticism of the government’s undemocratic practices. After all, LMP shares the left-of-center parties’ devotion to democracy. Jobbik also joins in this chorus. Can it be the foundation for common action? In Bauer’s opinion, the answer to that question is “no.” As Bernadett Szél said during the election campaign, there is only a “commonality of fate” and not a “commonality of values” when it comes to LMP’s relationship to the other opposition parties. In other words, what for the time being holds them together is being in opposition, and practically nothing else. In Bauer’s opinion, for MSZP and DK to seek closer cooperation with LMP and Jobbik is a hopeless proposition because of the fundamental differences in political views, which are responses to the essential question in Hungarian history for more than a century. Where to belong? To the democratic west or the autocratic east?
To illustrate Bauer’s point, here is the latest such failed attempt at cooperation. A few days ago Ferenc Gyurcsány approached the parliamentary delegations of all opposition parties, suggesting joint action against the outrageous law on the freedom of assembly. A perfectly reasonable proposition. MSZP and Párbeszéd gladly agreed while both LMP and Jobbik refused because of Gyurcsány’s alleged criminal behavior during the 2006 disturbances, which is of course nothing but an excuse.
As I said earlier, LMP lost many of its voters after the election because they blamed the party for Fidesz’s two-thirds majority, which could have been avoided if in certain Budapest districts LMP had withdrawn from the race. That was bad enough, but what has come afterward has been a really ugly story. In addition to the attrition—almost every day one hears about a new departure from the party, Magyar Narancs learned lately, which had long been rumored, that Fidesz and LMP are much closer than most people ever suspected. Even during the campaign Erzsébet Schmuck, LMP’s campaign manager, apparently had lengthy telephone conversations with Mária Schmidt, Viktor Orbán’s chief ideologist, who is also, let us not forget, Péter Ungár’s mother. But Schmuck wasn’t the only LMP bigwig who consulted with Schmidt during the campaign. Bernadett Szél more or less admitted that much last night on ATV’s Egyenes beszéd. One of Magyar Narancs’s sources claimed that “Mária Schmidt had been very active in the party,” which high-level Fidesz politicians were perfectly well aware of.
Róbert Benedek Sallai, who knocked over Ákos Hadházy at one of the meetings of LMP’s leadership, is also suspected of being a Fidesz mole. In late 2017 Sallai was in favor of what he called “silent cooperation,” which meant not campaigning in districts where another opposition party was strong. Yet by the time the campaign rolled around, he was the most ferocious opponent of any kind of cooperation. Apparently, his change of heart came after his foundation received a €240,000 EU grant thanks to the government’s generosity. All in all, as things look right now, LMP’s reputation is ruined.
Bernadett Szél, Péter Ungár, and Erzsébet Schmuck at the videoed meeting
If that weren’t enough, there is a separate issue, which is as ugly as the others in addition to being against the law. LMP hired a well-known Israeli campaign guru, Ron Werber, who in the past had worked for MSZP. Eventually, there was a falling out between the party and Werber. Werber claimed that LMP owed him 10 million forints. It was Péter Ungár who signed Werber’s contract on December 12, 2017, but it was only in January 2018 that Ungár got the green light to go ahead with the deal. On the video one can see Schmuck, Ungár, and Szél, with Ungár explaining that “I decided to sign that contract though I had no authority to do so, so that in the future this contract wouldn’t be binding as far as we are concerned. This fact might come in very handy in a law suit.” Szél obviously found Ungár’s ruse quite clever because she received the news with a big smile.
Szél’s performance last night on ATV’s Egyenes beszéd was a disturbing experience. She was not only confused but one could sense her moral collapse as well. She got her party into a situation from which, I’m afraid, there is no obvious way out.
The chickens come home to roost, eventually. And inevitably. Neither András Schiffer, nor his followers were ever able to think straight, or even honestly. A devious, but stupid lot. The crooked Schiffer, Schmuck, Szél, Ungár and Schmidt deserve each other. LMP has always been a BS party, and they well deserve to disappear from the face of this earth. And the sooner the better.
I told you so (although i dislike the expression) – witness the unexplained financing, confusing politics determined by Schiffers fits and phobia and above all by playing into Fid hands at elections.
But I can’t tell you what the hell people like Rona and Kukkoreli and so many voters saw in LMP. I still can’t bring myself to accept that the Hun electorate is so dumb, blind and divorced from reality. Pigs don’t fly, LMP folks!
Sorry, but I think that Kukorelly is a political idiot. I shriek when I see that someone in ATV is again interested in his opinions which always starts with Athenian democracy.
Eva,
You said it, but I don’t object.
“Péter Ungár, LMP’s new star”
I have, before and after the elections, read about, heard and watched him several times. But I absolutely could not find any political arguement, which explained the position he seems to have been taken in LMP.
For others in other parties, even if I disagree with their opinions, I can understand their position in their parties, e.g.Vona and the current leadership in Jobbik, Fekete-Gyor in Momentum, Karacsony in PM, Toth in MSZP.
For LMP I understood/understand Szel’s, Hadhazy’s, Sallai’s, Schmuck’s positions. BUT Ungar in LMP, I have absolutely no political clue!!
PS: LMP also has one MP in the EU parliament (in the Greens group), Meszerics, never ever have seen, read, heard, anything about what’s he’s doing there and where he really stands and voted for… I mean even in last year’s (2017.May.17) voting about Hungary (to start the ‘Rule of Law’ investigation) I couldn’t find his name!! He just didn’t show up!!
But he has money. He is a billionaire.
All of Ungár’s money is inherited from his Dad, who became an extremely wealthy Budapest real estate developer in the chaotic and thoroughly corrupt 1990s. But the money that Ungár plays with today, actually belongs to the family as a whole, headed as it is by Marcsa Schmidt, and Ungár does exactly what his mommy tells him to do in money matters. The family itself is a charming blend of ethnic German (Schwabian) on mommy’s side and Jewish on the deceased daddy’s side, all in all exemplarily echte magyar, one might say. Incidentally, I doubt that Ungár will have the brains to hang on to his money after his mommy moves on to join the dear departed Ungár senior somewhere up in the sky.
For those who read Hungarian, this really hits the nail on the head about Auntie Marcsa and her son:
http://fuhu.hu/miert-fontos-orbannak-schmidt-maria/
Re: Ron Werber helping LMP
I’m not into campaign guru’s at all, BUT couldn’t and still can’t find any reasonable explanation for him working for LMP and LMP’s “cooperation” with him.
The only left-over option is other forces (OV&Co!) wanted to avoid, at any costs, that he would be working for other opposition parties (e.g.MSZP, DK, PM or even Momentum)
Farkas
Weber, with his knowledge and experience in Hun politics, could have been reasonably hired by anyone. However, your hunch is supported by Ungar’s admittance of the bad faith contract and y the subsequent non co-operation and non payment – ie there was no intention to really use Werber’s services.
Politics cannot be very different, there is no LMP.
Zoli This is a response to your latest contribution(s) to Eva’s “Jews and Jewry in Hungary in 2017” – which is now closed to further postings. That is why I am responding here. I would like you to understand that there is absolutely no contradiction between my response to that post by Istvan and what I have written re the current situation of Jews in Hungary as opposed to that of Jews in Western Europe. Yes, the situation of people easily identifiable as Jews is far better in Hungary than in the West, because there is nothing in Hungary like the overt, violent and often lethal Muslim antisemitism in countries like France or Sweden (except of course for the very substantial neo-Nazi element in Hungarian society that is however on leash for the moment by the Fidesz-controlled security police). But that does not mean in the least that that it is good or pleasant to be a Jew in Hungary. Most Jews living in Hungry will disagree with me on this (of course!), but my view is that they are like a frog that gets used to surviving in gradually warming water until it finally croaks when the water gets… Read more »
Farkas
We have to admit that there is a lower risk in Hun as there are no Muslim extremists here (the Hun ones killed only gypsies so far), actually there are no Muslims at all and no migrants either (ergo its all Orbán’s BS).
The main difference however is that the anti semitism, together with many other “anti”s, is state sponsored in Hun.
And the main point is that the many other grave implications of a fascist regime is way too high a price for achieving a slightly better safety for some citizens or even for running the trains on schedule.
The main point imho is that OV&Co, the EMIGRATION CAUSING bunch, is using their “friendship” with the current government in Israel, to hide their usage of, in the past used against jews and other minorities, methods* against, in their eyes/minds, all “other humans”.
For that reason I try to keep away from the anti-or-not-anti-semitism discussion, as that leads to the current name calling and effectively going nowhere.
So it’s OV&Co’s “Anti-Other-Humans” policies, which is where should be focused upon.
My statement:
Everyone is from this world, so this world is everybody’s!
PS: I have heard several times certain politicians in EU countries speaking positively about the “Australian model” and suggesting that to be applied. I always wonder then, how they think to move their country into the ocean…
Ferenc Australia – a genuinely multicultural country with a population of around 24 million – takes in annually around 180 thousand regular immigrants from all around the world, and around 20 thousand carefully selected, but multiply disadvantaged refugees from refugee hot-spots in Africa and Asia. Great care is exercised over the longer term to ensure the successful absorption and integration of especially the refugees, every one of them. Australia’s immense success in absorbing and integrating newcomers, whether skilled immigrants or multiply disadvantaged Third World refugees is in sharp contrast to the utter failure of West Europeans to blend into their respective mainstreams the Third World immigrant and refugee populations that arrived on European shores over the past half a century. Consequently, they have a second and third generatioin problem. We don’t. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. But Australia also contends with two kinds of illegal arrivals, one by sea, the other by air. Both cases mostly involve (would be) economic immigrants and economic immigrants pretending to be asylum seekers, but also of course cohorts of genuine asylum seekers. All of them are essentially queue jumpers who have the financial wherewithal to pay many… Read more »
Thanks for your detailed description.
As you might understand, the ‘certain politicians’ I was referring to, only favour one small part of the “Australian Model”: dropping asylum-seekers at foreign islands far-away.
Just found following video, which you might have seen/know already, if not enjoy!!
1956.Dec.06, Freedom Flight: Refugees From Hungary in Australia
https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/video/hungarian-refugees-arrive-in-australia-crowds-nachrichtenfilmmaterial/594658413
Observer I was just tying up a loose end with this post, without any intention of starting a new conversation. Otherwise, I am in furious agreement with the points you make, except for one thing. I would not designate the regime as fascist, primarily because the black shirts aren’t marching as yet, terrorizing minorities on behalf of the government. I think that “corrupt despotism” would be a more accurate designation for what is going on in Hungary today under the Orban/Fidesz regime. It seems to me that there is real danger in bandying about the term “fascism” without really grave and compelling evidence for it in hand. The fable of the boy who cried wolf comes to mind as a cautionary tale. But I do concede that such a thoroughly corrupt despotism as Orban’s Mafia State, could easily turn into fully fledged fascism on the turn of a dime. That is so of course, because acceptance by the electorate of a corrupt despotism as the norm can transition into acceptance of fascism as the norm with the greatest of ease, especially in Hungary, where fascism is in any case the traditional political comfort zone of a very substantial cohort in… Read more »
Ferenc Re. Fascism I’m not a stickler for academic definitions, call it quasi F, F light, post commie mafia state, etc, but if you look up a definition of fascism (I use Prof. Robert Paxton’s) the regime ticks almost all the boxes. History doesn’t repeat itself in the last detail, eg. the shirts may be not brown, the marches may be only Bèke menet (so far), what count are the intentions/goals and the acts which determine the stage in a dynamic process – but we know where we are going. In the present peaceful conditions of Europe/EU these goals are achieved by milder means, eg. – only a few persons are imprisoned (on trumped up charges) to set intimidating examples, – tens of thousands are only fired, but not beaten up, their businesses are ruined, but not burned down, – the media is muzzled by other means, – all institutions are gutted but their facades are still standing, – the will and whims of the dictator are instantly realized through a rubber stamp parliament, unquestioned, – the hateful and inciting rhetoric is left mostly to non politicians, etc. These don’t change the reality of a dictatorship which happens to best… Read more »
Yes, the “Gleichschaltung” of the media is a sure sign of an autocracy – and it’s going on.
And the way laws are pushed through parlaiment is crazy, no discussion, often not even time to read it for members of parliament – and others have no chance for making suggestions.
“A new law every day keeps sanity away”
You mount a very convincing argument, Observer. Rövid, de velős!!! So I have no choice but to agree, despite some continued misgivings. Kudos. :-))
Nobody of us will have a complete answer about these questions. Which is the level of discrimination somebody is accepting (Farkas referred to a frog that gets used to surviving in gradually warming water) in different countries? We discussed the case of the attack onto a kippah wearing man in Berlin. I wonder whether Hungarian police would have even taken notice of that special case, if it had been in Budapest committed by a Hungarian offender? Would governmental news have mentioned it at all? Would demonstrations have been held against anti-Semitism like in Berlin? No! The German state reacted correctly: police investigated, the man was taken to the court and was punished as the law determined. In another point the German state was less successful: to teach the offender how to behave and to respect the law (although this is nowhere a 100% success, otherwise there were no criminal courts, prisons e.g.). I have no idea how many anti-Semitic crimes in Germany (or other states) are committed by locals in relation to Arab refugees as in this special case. I even don’t know if Hungary is really a safer place for recognisable Jews than for example Germany, what here is… Read more »
I think a lot of the left are harsh on Szel for no good reason and your final remarks about Szel’s performance on ATV are an example of that. I don’t sympathize with the Jobbik-LMP-Momentum “alliance” in the making (Szel used the word “szövetségkötés” in the ATV interview that the article gave a really helpful link to – characteristically I. Csuhaj was too busy bashing LMP and asking silly questions to notice this most significant word in the entire interview). But it is a legitimate plan that these parties think offer some advantages to them in spite (and even more so because) of the mess that Jobbik and LMP are in. The left may also find a more presentable and manageable tactical partner is such an alliance than in the three parties taken one by one. It is an extremely shortsighted reflex of the left that they accuse these parties with going to bed with the devil – maybe in the hope of the good-for-nothing electoral gains that disenchanted LMP supporters could possibly give them – instead of trying to build up a similar umbrella organization on their side that could save the right-wing democrats the trouble of appearing together… Read more »
Gábor T
You should perhaps talk to LMP “how they could effectively co-operate” , perhaps the way Gyrcsàny/DK did with those who, unlike LMP, showed any inclination to do so. After all LMP secured the 2/3 supermajority for Orban.
Again, I’m puzzled, no, flabbergasted by the Hun electorate.
Well, on this topic we don’t see eye to eye. LMP is lethal and almost certainly a Fidesz tool.
But when they appeared on the political scene many people (naive me included – mea culpa) hoped that they’d be simialr to the Green party in Germany and other countries.
How wrong we were!
Every day ugly surprises …
A bit OT:
Anyone have an idea why no Green party appeared in Hungary?
My wife says that the concept of ecology and caring for your environment is foreign to Hungarians (and then she kicks another bunch of beer cans and plastic water bottles that someone threw out of his car out of the way and sometimes I fear she’s right.
Only Italy is similar in the aspect of being just an oversized garbage heap!
Of course I could have used the word “crap” …
Of course everyone is a Fidesz tool from time to time. And we are so much in the dark about what Fidesz is up to at any one point in time, that we can always invent an explanation for anything in terms of what the grand plan of Fidesz is. But that is not the same as if LMP were a WILLING, dependable, paid etc. tool of Fidesz. You may not like the LMP priorities (I do not like them either), but can’t seriously say that that they do not mean to promote democracy in Hungary or that they mean to keep Orban in power. There is a real danger of a Robespierre-like ever-intensifying hunt for traitors in this rhetoric.
Mr Toka,
I have heard that you opposed the detailed investigation of the April election results immediately after the election. You based your belief that there had not been large-scale fraud on what kind of evidence?
Thanks,
tappanch
I am not sure what you are referring to. I participated in those investigations, saw what came out, and told everyone who asked my opinion that there may have been fraud but the data do not show evidence of anything more than sloppy, substandard, negligent election administration, which of course should be criticized and challenged more vigorously than it was.
But if you saw compelling evidence of fraud, then by all means present it to the world.
It is always tempting to verbally outbid the radicalism of other commenters from the safety of an armchair, and we all struggle with that, I guess. But when you actually want to achieve sg, you need to engage with facts. If you cry wolf when there is none, you know what happens. And if your get your facts wrong on the fraud, you are not going to get your strategy right.
Peter Ungar’s bragging about the cheeky contract with Werber is of course a sign of what idiots Szel and anyone with a bit of brain and character in the Hungarian opposition have to put up with. Extremely sad, and indeed Ungar is possibly even below the usual standards. But hey, who else brings nearly as much money to opposition causes as him? One could only elbow him out only if small donations delivered anything comparable to what a few big donors like him bring.
“what idiots Szel and anyone with a bit of brain and character in the Hungarian opposition have to put up with”
The only answer to that by those “with brain and character” can be:
LEAVE THOSE IDIOTS on their own, get away from them, then they the idiots can’t bother you
Gábor T
What impresses me most about both LMP and the rump Jobbik, is their visionless, empty-headed incoherence and deviousness. An LMP and Jobbik alliance? 0+0 is still equal 0.
You have a great point, which can be repeated about practically every combination of two opposition parties.
Since he signed the contract with Werber, maybe Peter Ungar should pay over the money that Werber is owed. After all, Ungar chose to mis-represent himself as authorized to sign a contract. They say the guy has plenty of money and so wouldn’t miss 10 million HUF, but then that is the way the rich stay rich, by not paying debts when such payment can be ‘avoided’.
Our late lamented correspondent in this place would no doubt describe Ungar’s dishonesty as a typical Hungarian trick (and he would be right).
Arton Capital, which is connected to Orban’s propaganda minister Rogan made an estimated 7.2 billion forint profit in 2017, by the “Hungarian bond for green card” scheme.
Most of the profit was collected through its affiliate in the United Arab Emirates.
https://g7.24.hu/allam/20180707/ketszazmilliot-vihettek-el-a-betorok-a-letelepedesi-kotvenyes-ceg-szefjebol/
“The Israeli private intelligence firm Black Cube was involved in a campaign to discredit NGOs ahead of Hungary’s April election, according to a former Black Cube employee and a person with knowledge of the company’s inner workings.
Between December 2017 and March 2018, Hungarian NGOs and individuals connected to American-Hungarian businessman George Soros were contacted by agents using false identities who secretly recorded them.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/viktor-orban-israeli-intelligence-firm-targeted-ngos-during-hungarys-election-campaign-george-soros/
person (still unidentified) who met Migration Aid staff in Vienna
https://twitter.com/shaunwalker7/status/985443778524794880
transcript (Hungarian) and videos (English) of meeting at
http://siewert.org/a-migration-aid-politikai-kapcsolatai-erdekeltek-a-nem-letezo-smart-innotechet/
http://siewert.org/a-masodik-becsi-talalkozo-hangfelvetelei/
“Úgy tudjuk, hogy az Alexsandrov néven bemutatkozó férfinak is titkosszolgálati múltja van, de nem hírszerzési, hanem elhárítási vonalon dolgozott.”
From András Dezső’s article on Index. This is a subtle message that the Hungarians (though not Dezső himself) know his name but since they are very generous with the Israelis they will not publish his name or alternatively the Hungarians don’t actually know the name but want to Israelis to think they do.
An interesting development is that Zsolt Bayer took down his articles from “the internet” which relied on the reports received from this shadowy private intelligence outfit.
https://index.hu/belfold/2018/07/09/eltuntek_a_magyar_idokrol_bayer_zsolt_azon_cikkei_amit_izraeli_hatteru_kemceg_keszithetett_nekik/
I guess this project was deemed a mistake by Orban (regardless of whoever mandated the Israelis) and Fidesz wants to get it behind them.
Thanks!!
Hope the whole story, including full names, functions, contracts. etc., will be published ASAP!!
PS: just checked the MI links, and BZs articles are back on line, they were archived on web.archive.org anyway…
Since this is the weekend of the destruction of internal documents and data of the election ….
Seven numerical reasons the results of the 2018.04.08. election should be held invalid.
A. Inconsistencies in the # of ballots actually cast:
A2. Two-ballot voters:
A21. April 8 & 9 counting:
Problem #1[List]:
508,055 [176,407] {39,912} missing* list votes at
10:55 PM [11:57 PM] {1:10 AM} on April 8 & 9
*missing: not counted (not valid, not invalid, not lost) or not not-yet-processed.
See:
https://hungarianspectrum.org/2018/04/28/tappanch-anomalies-in-12-exhibits-or-was-the-election-a-farce/
https://hungarianspectrum.org/2018/04/29/data-appendices-to-tappanch-anomalies-in-12-exhibits/
Problem #2[District]: 5,239 lost individual district votes [+ 56,778 invalid votes]
Problem #3[List]: 3,333 lost list votes [+57,618 invalid votes]
Problem #4[District]. 6,772 not tabulated valid votes in individual districts.
A22. April 14 & 15 counting:
Problem #5[List]: 2,772 missing domestic absentee list ballots vs April 9
A1. One-ballot voters:
Problem #6[List]: 19,868 ballots that had been dropped off inside Hungary on April 8 were added on April 10 & 11,
past the April 9 legal deadline
B. Inconsistencies in the # of eligible voters:
Problem #7. 93,321 increase in the eligible two-ballot voters between March 22 and April 7, using OSCE numbers.
total number of voters – one-ballot voters :
March 22: 8,213,382 (OSCE) -372806 = 7,840,576
April 06: 8,254,675 -374945 = 7,879,730
April 07: 8,312,264 (OSCE) -378367 = 7,933,897
OT – but it seems to some people on the extreme right that evrything(and everyone …) is connected to Soros. Maybe you’ve read about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the young Hispanic woman in New York who won the “pre-elections”. Now look at the picture of her and “her grandfather” – ain’t it funny?
https://clashdaily.com/2018/07/the-lefts-new-messiah-is-a-female-version-of-obama/
This is obviously the right site for trolls like zoli and MZ! 🙂
Wolfi
To paraphrase Rousseau: if you can convince this crowd of such absurdities, you can incite them to great atrocities.
This is canvassing the fascism of tomorrow.
And we should know certain governments knew and still know how ideology and values link up to form opinions in the populace. But even though ‘facts’ exist it is always troubling to see how they are ignored precisely because of the work of ideologies and values in constructing opinion.
That experience right now exists in the country we discuss. It’s evident that the current ‘filters’ in place to influence opinion contribute to the unease for the future. Many are familiar with this yet knowledge doesn’t move them an inch. We’ve been here before. History as fact doesn’t lie.
Some parties seems to have a penchant for constantly reviling in public previous politicians and specific ‘enemies of the state’ provocateurs. This in the grab-bag of dirty tricks found in LMP and Fidesz. The objects for ire usually appear in effigy to bring out the contempt of the electorate.
Truly ironic for one party in all their ostensible ‘efforts’ to unseat the King as the Fidesz puppet-masters pull their strings to keep the correct visages on both sides of the political spectrum in front of the electorate. ‘And never will you forget it’. Result is simply keeping the degenerative status quo. A state of suspended political inaction enabling the continued holding of the country by the throat.
I would like to call attention to a very detailed description of today’s post on the Független Hírügynökség website:
http://fuhu.hu/az-lmp-erkolcsi-folenye-a-szemunk-elott-morzsolodik-fel/
Bravo, Professor Balogh, you are not only the information lifeline to those outside Hungary, but it is also reflecting back, into Hungary. I don’t know how you do it. You have preternatural powers, both as historian and contemporary chronicler, journalist and analyst. It’s just a matter of time till your enormous and positive influence will be recognized and written about widely. If I were the Hungarian opposition parties, I would be seeking your wisdom on strategy. (And if I were George Soros, I would give you an enormous grant to expand your work! Of course then you would be smeared as part of the Soros conspiracy, but we know that that does not exist, and that all there is is an attempt on the part of George Soros, like yourself, to do something to help protect freedom and democracy — an open society — from the likes of Viktor Orban and his criminal and hateful despotism.)
Index are reporting that LMP have called an extraordinary meeting of their executive board “to discuss the events of the last few days”, presumably referring to the events mentioned here.
I’ve always been inclined to support LMP rather than the other opposition parties, but following this year’s elections and Hadházy’s comments, it would be very difficult to advocate voting for them right now.
https://index.hu/belfold/2018/07/09/lmp_rendkivuli_ules_mediahadjarat/