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A left-liberal diatribe against the opposition

September 9th, 2017

A leading left-liberal commentator accuses left-wing parties of sharing responsibility for ‘setting Fidesz rule in concrete’.

In an acrimonious column in 168 óra, sociologist Mária Vásárhelyi suggests that most Hungarians deeply mistrust the government. She interprets the stance of the overwhelming majority of Hungarians who want their country to belong to the European Union as proof that they don’t buy the government’s ‘Eastern wind propaganda’. Without quoting opinion poll data, she claims that most Hungarians see the Paks nuclear project as serving the interests of the Fidesz clientele. Hungarians  ‘detest Lőrinc Mészáros’, whom she calls ‘the Prime Minister’s strawman’ more than (former PM) Ferenc Gyurcsány, who is often identified as ‘the main culprit for all of Hungary’s failures’. And still, she continues, the ratings of the opposition parties have not improved one iota. Voters are repelled by the show of ‘impotence, irresponsibility and infighting’ put on by the opposition, she explains. Why should people trust in their ability to govern, if even in opposition they are unable to put the national interest ahead of their personal ambitions? she asks. In her concluding sentence, Vásárhelyi accuses the competing leaders of the opposition of ‘playing from the Fidesz sheet music’.

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