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Jobbik’s mounting popularity connected to “African” revelations

March 28th, 2014

Népszabadság believes that in reaction to the low moral standards of mainstream political parties, disenchanted voters may turn towards the extreme right.

In its front page lead story, Népszabadság reveals that the man who provided an African passport to former MSZP vice chairman Gábor Simon, also attended the gathering of Socialist MPs in 2006 where Ferenc Gyurcsány made his ill-famed “lie-speech”. (Gábor Simon is under arrest for keeping a secret deposit in an Austrian bank and another one in Hungary under a pseudonym. The latter was opened with a passport from Guinea-Bissau, which was provided by Tamás Welsz, an entrepreneur on the Interpol wanted list, as a suspect in an embezzlement case in Panama. Welsz apparently provided information about Simon in order to avoid extradition, and gave piles of documents to the police. While he was being escorted to the police station to record his testimony as a witness, he collapsed in the police car and could not be resuscitated by emergency services.) Népszabadság’s crime correspondent Attila Gy. Fekete reveals that Welsz was interrogated by the Security Services back in 2006, when he “served as a sound engineer” in the technical team that recorded the then Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány’s famous speech at Őszöd, in which Gyurcsány admitted to having misgoverned the country for 18 months in order to win the elections. (See BudaPost, 2011 through 2014) On Thursday, HVG online was told by unnamed sources that Welsz was indeed interrogated by the authorities in 2006, but by mistake, as the sound engineer at the Őszöd meeting was another man with a name similar to his.

In its front page editorial, accompanying the lead story, Népszabadság says that “this would all be too much, even in a spy thriller”. The Simon story is sinking lower all the time, and “as a result, the characters of the Big Brother TV show appear to be giants of integrity compared to Hungarian politicians”. Behind the scenes of Hungarian politics, Népszabadság continues, “a disease is being spread by adventurers and disgusting individuals”, who sell Őszöd speeches or African passports, whatever is in demand. Nowadays, the leader writers continue, “success means being able to sell rottenness to the public, while enjoying the sight of opponents stumbling into relatively minor scandals”. “Little wonder if embittered voters dare to dream of a Jobbik victory”, Népszabadság concludes. (The latest polls put Jobbik’s popularity at around 20 per cent. Fidesz has bolstered its leading position with approximately 50, while the left-wing alliance has dropped a few points but is still ahead of Jobbik).

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