Government-critical intellectuals side with opposition

As a group of left-wing and conservative personalities have set out to promote a high turnout at the next election this spring, an independent analyst thinks although Fidesz’s victory seems assured, the stakes of the election are high.

Eleven university professors have launched an initiative aimed at urging citizens to turn out at the next parliamentary elections. They also propose measures to be taken after the election. They include former socialist and conservative cabinet ministers who agree in wishing  the overwhelming superiority of the governing parties to be curbed.

On hvg.hu, Gabor Török also believes that the result of the election will largely depend on the turnout. The most probable outcome of the election, he thinks, is a sweeping Fidesz victory. However, winning just over 20 mandates (out of 106) in individual constituencies would enable the opposition to deny Fidesz another two thirds majority. (93 mandates are distributed proportionally among party lists.) If the opposition were to win just over 40 individual mandates, this would leave Fidesz with less than half of all seats in Parliament. That is the maximum the opposition can hope to achieve, and Török urges them to say so in order to let people know what the realistic stakes are and thereby to mobilise them. To win several dozen constituencies would require cooperation, at least tacitly, between opposition parties, he adds in a clear hint at the problems Jobbik and the left-liberal camp face to accept each other as partners.

Tags: elections, Jobbik, opposition