Will LMP disappear after the split?
January 29th, 2013Left-wing commentators believe those who have left LMP to join a left-wing alliance will have a future, while the remaining majority is doomed, at least morally. A right-wing columnist hopes LMP can survive and offer an option to centrist voters.
In its front page editorial, Népszabadság thinks LMP’s constituency might melt down after the split, for “it has no reason to remain in place any longer”. On the other hand, Népszabadság welcomes the new arrivals within the opposition camp, for they will bolster Gordon Bajnai’s position. The left-wing daily fears in fact that the MSZP, on its own, could be tempted to revive anti-market politics.
In Népszava, deputy editor János Dési suspects that the LMP leaders who refuse to co-operate with the left-wing opposition secretly aspire to an alliance with the right wing after next year’s election. If Fidesz doesn’t prove strong enough to rule on its own, LMP leader András Schiffer may decide to keep it afloat, in order to prevent a Fidesz-Jobbik coalition, Dési speculates.
In Heti Világgazdaság, Zoltán Czeglédi agrees with Dési on the possibility of a future alliance between Fidesz and LMP, but finds it more probable that LMP will not make it to the next parliament. He recalls that a similar split occurred four years ago within the liberal SZDSZ party, which then disappeared from the chessboard.
In Magyar Hírlap, Csaba Zsebők believes that a green party should be open to alliances both with left-wing and with right-wing forces, and that is precisely what Schiffer and his LMP are aiming at. Their opponents, on the other hand, are only compatible with the left wing. For anyone who doesn’t feel like voting either left or right next spring, the only party to vote for will be LMP. If it is still around.