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Left urged to come forward with a coherent message

October 28th, 2017

A political analyst lambasts left-wing parties who waste their time with a series of hopeless initiatives instead of telling the electorate why it should vote for them.

In Népszava, András Bíró-Nagy recalls how the Left spent six months last year in discussions on a system of primaries to choose its candidates for the next elections, while most of 2017 has been wasted on futile brawls about electoral alliances. The only initiative supported by them all was a movement demanding a proportional electoral system to replace the current majoritarian one. Bíró-Nagy considers that demand self-defeating, since the left can only hope to gain a relative majority (at best) in the foreseeable future and therefore would have no chance of winning in a proportional system. His main problem, however, is that while immersed in those efforts, the opposition parties have no narrative for the electorate. Fidesz’s message is clear and efficient: they offer protection against dangers posed by foreign forces. To beat that, Bíró-Nagy suggests, the Left should build its own ‘mission statement’ around the idea of social justice. He quotes a survey by Nézőpont, a pro-government think tank, which shows that Hungarians want the government to spend more on welfare and health. The Left should tell the public why they should trust it to provide more social justice – Bíró-Nagy concludes.

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