Hungarian News

Divide et Impera or Orbán the Dog Lover

• February 15, 2022
• István
• 5 Comments

We should not delude ourselves, our only choice in April will be whether Hungary will go further down the same old road or if we want a way out. It is not the choice as the French will have in April as well electing their president among a huge group to be filtered down and making the best possible choice for the majority of the voters in a 2nd round. The Hungarian electoral system is different. It is a system that might work in an environment of strong individuals without parties, but in a modern democracy party affiliation is for the voter in many cases more important than the individual candidate is. There are countries with a modern electoral system that offers only one vote, where the voter may choose a candidate on a list and his vote is counted for this party for equal representation, while voting on the candidate has influence on the individual candidates getting for this party into parliament. Or those who determine the number of seats of a party strictly by party list and add an individual component by choosing candidates separately without changing the overall numerical ratio of the party lists.

In Hungary we have party lists, where a number of candidates gets into parliament if the electoral threshold of the list is reached. Beside some undemocratic special Hungarian rules, which add votes from other sources to the party lists, the number of deputies is distributed democratically. Completely different from this is the district representation. This is why Hungary has with a state party getting only a plurality of votes a parliament with a 2/3 majority both in 2014 and 2018.

Orbán created this system in a time when his FIDESZ covered most the right spectrum from moderate conservatives to nationalist hardliners. The opposition was divided in everything left of FIDESZ from liberals to social democrats and the extreme right. As long as the opposition voters were divided between left and right of FIDESZ the regime just needed the plurality of votes to win. In 2014 Orbán got less votes than in 2002 or in 2006, but instead of being thrown out of office again as in 2002 he got this way 133 of 199 seats.

Today ideologically Orbán went to the extreme right and his former opposition to his right side moved somewhat to the centre. This allowed the main opposition parties to form the alliance Unity for Hungary. This way the rule of Orbán is endangered. Yesterday the latest Závecz poll has shown that FIDESZ has a slight advantage over Unity for Hungary, but so small that it remains within the margin of error. Further there is a huge part of the population, about half a million Hungarians, who want to go to the polls, but did not decide yet. The share of them who want to vote away Orbán is larger than those who want Orbán to continue. Added to the camps Unity for Hungary takes a lead. The battle is close and here we have the hour of ugly moves again.

The king of porn György Gattyán has started a party in the meanwhile and collects signatures for candidates in all 106 districts, some prominent people are running now for him, for example Z’zi Labor singer István Janicsák will run against Ákos Hadházy ►HU. This party is said to be set-up in the interest of FIDESZ for splitting the opposition camp only. The far left Munkapárt and the far right Mi Házank already were allies of Orbán, both without chances of getting over the threshold or winning a district.

But FIDESZ has officially found a new love as well. Orbán now loves dogs, better the Party of the Twotailed Dog (MKKP). This fun party – it were them, who postered billboards with “Sorry for my PM,” or “If you are PM of Hungary you have to abide the law,” or who made fake Forint banknotes, among them one showing former EU commission president Juncker and the “Message to Brussels: Send more money” – now also tries to run 89 districts. With 87 humans and 2 dogs in the districts ►HU. Running in 71 districts is needed to open a party list. They do regardless whether they would reduce the chances of Unity for Hungary or not. Orbán’s newest set is that those who don’t want to vote for FIDESZ should vote for MKKP ►HU. As long as the vote is not for Unity for Hungary it works for Orbán.

Further the formerly no-opposition-co-operation party LMP shows some of their ugly old traits through some of their members. Their 1st chairman András Schiffer declared that he won’t vote for his own party as part of Unity for Hungary, but for the dogs of MKKP ►HU. And at least 2 LMP members decided to collect signature to run in 2 districts against all others, including the candidates of Unity for Hungary. Mária Hajdu in district Budapest 3, she has left LMP ►HU, Lajos Takács in Veszprém 3 wants to run against Unity for Hungary as opposition candidate as well ►HU, both districts are possible wins for Unity for Hungary, although the prominent FIDESZ members Tibor Navracsics and Balázs Fürjes run there.

To make it more likely that votes for the opposition are spread among a lot of parties are registered for the elections. I took a look to know more about some of the parties, but it is hard to get something known. For example the Magyar Szegények És Dolgozók Demokratikus Szervezete (Hungarian Poor and Workers Democratic Organisation) MSZDDSZ was very early accepted. But the only presentation the party has on internet is a closed facebook group ►HU! This is how they “want to take our future in our own hands,” as the “info” says. Hard to believe that such a group could ever collect 500 signatures each for a candidate in at least 71 districts. No worry, there is help. The high priest of hate preaching Zsolt Bayer has the solution: Collecting signatures for small parties! He seriously calls in Magyar Nemzet for helping small parties! Since I don’t want to link propaganda outlets here the report of 444 about this ►HU.

And there was the notorious blog bennfentes (insider.) This hate propaganda outlet brought a story about Mihály Gér, district candidate of Unity for Hungary in Pest 10, a relative safe FIDESZ district. Gér had a car accident in 2016 with 2 pedestrians, 1 of them died. He was found innocent in this accident and fully acquitted. Bennfentes published comments that are said to be made in a closed facebook group and that show indeed not very sensible comments about what happened. They lack any sympathy for the dead and the injured and are very brutal in choice of words. Since bennfentes is not the best example for serious journalism I have no idea whether these screenshots, showing a timestamp of 6 hours after posting these comments (so still in 2016,) are real or not. I don’t know how real it is to keep screenshots on a mobile phone that long just to make them public nearly 6 years later. 24.hu expects Gér to resign ►HU. Unity for Hungary has still a few days to find a new candidate and to collect signatures.

And the constitutional court has no problems when voters are placed in districts where their vote is hard needed to change the result of the elections. The new law that everybody may register one’s domicile wherever in the country, which was originally obligated to be in the place of permanent residence – and to vote there – has been confirmed yesterday. Only need to be allowed to vote in a district is that the owner allows registering on that fictive address ►HU.

No address need voters that never have lived in Hungary, they may be dead as well. According to Ákos Hadházy the election office has admitted that 15 000 dead voters are allowed to vote ►HU.