Bajnai already beaten by Mesterházy?

A centre-right commentator says the Socialist Party leader has already won the race for the leadership of a united opposition. A left-wing analyst claims that opposition parties and Together-2014 are running out of time while they try to maximize their individual political gains.

In Heti Válasz, Bálint Ablonczy suggests that Mr Mesterházy has outsmarted  Gordon Bajnai, founder of the Together-2014 alliance. Gordon Bajnai’s entry was seen as extremely promising in October (See BudaPost, November 12, 2012), but since then his popularity has slipped, Ablonczy notes, quoting the latest polls. He ascribes that trend to Bajnai’s “pale presence” and “contradictory messages.” While he tries to target moderate right wing voters, his entourage is comprised of “a few vengeful ex-Free Democrats.” He has no answers to important questions such as the national minimum wage, the bank tax, family taxation or welfare – despite having a think tank behind him which churns out policy papers by the dozen. Attila Mesterházy, meanwhile, the leader and likely candidate of the MSZP, has undoubtedly improved the image of his party with a simple populist-leftist agenda, Ablonczy admits.

Commenting in HVG on the current state of negotiations between opposition forces, political analyst and occasional MSZP advisor Zoltán Lakner paints a dark picture of behind the scenes intrigue and political calculation. While the Socialist Party has had to acknowledge that it will need the supporters of Together-2014, it still hopes to dominate the negotiations between potential coalition partners. Together-2014 on the other hand, which, Lakner muses, might turn into one or split into three separate parties, is reluctant to associate itself with the MSZP but has made little progress so far in finding allies. Sooner or later, says Lakner, an agreement will be reached, but Together-2014 will have to accept that they can only be a junior partner in this coalition. Meanwhile “the momentum is on the streets,” with various protest movements waiting to be channelled into an alliance. Such momentum, however, will only be there for a limited time, he warns.

Tags: Bajnai, Mesterházy