A conservative take on Jobbik’s moderate stance
June 2nd, 2016Commenting on the re-election of Gábor Vona as party leader, a Hungarian-American investor in the leading pro-government daily dismisses Jobbik’s shift to the centre as ‘a mere stunt’ intended to deceive moderate voters.
Racism, anti-Gypsyism and anti-Semitism are the core principles of Jobbik’s ideology, and without them Jobbik would lose its foundational ideas, George F. Hemingway writes in Magyar Idők. The US born Hungarian lawyer thinks that Gábor Vona’s efforts to transform Jobbik into a moderate people’s party are a strategic stunt to woo centrist voters (see BudaPost May 31). Although Vona rejects extremist ideas, the new Vice-Presidents he has nominated (see BudaPost April 25) are no less radical in their ideology than the right-wing of the party, Hemingway writes. He goes on to argue that local Jobbik politicians, activists and their media personalities openly embrace extremist ideas (including Holocaust denial) which makes it impossible to move Jobbik to the political centre. Hemingway, however, is optimistic that Hungarian voters reject anti-Semitism and do not buy into Holocaust denial conspiracy theories, and so they will not fall for Jobbik’s trick.