Bajnai offers to re-negotiate opposition alliance
January 7th, 2014A left-wing daily welcomes Bajnai’s move as a new chance to beat Orbán with joint candidates and a coordinated campaign – a much-needed boost for opposition morale.
Gordon Bajnai announced in a Monday morning television interview that he wants to re-negotiate the opposition alliance with the Socialists and is ready to step back as a candidate for the premiership. He said a new alliance with a joint list of candidates was necessary to give hope to opposition voters. Opposition forces have so far failed to overcome their differences and are widely expected to lose the 2014 elections due both to the absence of a credible leader and their own bickering – see BudaPost January 6 and November 8, 2013. In a clear indication of his intention to include DK leader Ferenc Gyurcsány in the opposition alliance, Mr Bajnai said the new agreement will demand sacrifices from all sides.
In Népszava János Dési says Bajnai’s move gives a new chance for the opposition to beat PM Orbán, even if it came as a unilateral announcement instead of a joint statement by all major parties and small splinter group leaders. He thinks a joint list of candidates and a coordinated campaign would not only enhance the chances of the opposition but could be a much needed boost to the morale of opposition voters as well. Victory will not be easy, he says, as Fidesz “will start the media engines and promise everything to everyone” but he concludes on an upbeat note, claiming that “this opposition has beaten Orbán several times” and it can therefore do so again.