A divided country foreseen for 2013
January 4th, 2013A pro-government columnist argues that the present opposition is more irresponsible than ever, yet Fidesz is still leading the polls.
It was an illusion, writes Magyar Nemzet’s leading columnist Szabolcs Szerető, to believe that Fidesz would pacify the deeply divided country by ruling from the centre (between the national radicals and the anti-nationalist forces of the left). Opposition forces, he claims, have become even more irresponsible at home, and used their foreign contacts to create ever deeper divisions through the international press. He condemns an unnamed opposition politician for inciting students to break the law; scorns other politicians who use “vulgar demagoguery” in an effort to organize new trade unions and ”politically motivated hatred has even invaded some schools.” Yet Fidesz, according to opinion polls, still maintains its stable lead, in the absence of any realistic alternative among the challengers. Both LMP and Jobbik have lost support, Szerető claims, and it seems that the MSZP is intent on reviving the old strategy which helped it to victory in 2002, by opening negotiations with other left-wing groupings (see BudaPost, January 3) and handing Gordon Bajnai the role of the moderate. The government can still hold on to power in 2014, nonetheless, if it succeeds in its “so far lacklustre” consolidation efforts, he concludes, but the “fight will be bitter.”
Tags: Bajnai, MSZP, opposition