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Big Fidesz victory forecast in EP election

April 23rd, 2019

Five weeks ahead of the European Parliamentary election, both pro-government and left-leaning pundits predict a Fidesz victory.

According to the latest poll commissioned by the European Parliament, Fidesz will get 13 mandates in the EP election five weeks from now. The MSZP and Jobbik are predicted to win 3 each, while the Democratic Coalition and the Momentum stand to get one seat each.

In a sarcastic piece in Magyar Nemzet, János Dénes Orbán mocks the Democratic Coalition and Klára Dobrev, its frontrunner in the European Parliamentary election. The pro-government poet best-known for his opinionated commentaries deems it a sign of ‘looming dictatorship’ that former PM Ferenc Gyurcsány’s wife should be the Democratic Coalition’s front runner for the European Parliament. This reminds Orbán, who was born in Transylvania, of the Ceausescu family. He recalls that Klára Dobrev is the granddaughter of a leading figure of the communist regime. In conclusion, Orbán remarks that while neither Ferenc Gyurcsány nor Klára Dobrev are taken seriously by Hungarians, they are still seen as ideal partners by ‘globalist EU elites’.

Magyar Demokrata editor-in-chief András Bencsik thinks that the opposition parties lack substance in their EP campaign. The pro-government pundit finds it particularly bothering that the Democratic Coalition supports the idea of a United States of Europe. Bencsik thinks that such a centralized European federation would be oppressive, and thus would be similar to the Soviet Union.

Magyar Hírlap’s Mariann Őry hopes that in the May election, the current EU leadership will be defeated. She accuses the EU of interfering  in Hungarian politics well beyond its mandate, and helping the opposition in its efforts to defeat PM Orbán. Őry also accuses the EU of making an existential blunder by supporting migration. She hopes the EU will be taken over by politicians ‘who really love Europe’.

Magyar Narancs in a front page editorial accuses Fidesz and Prime Minister Orbán of spreading conspiracy theories. In the liberal weekly’s interpretation, the fear mongering about migration generated by the governing party is based on the same ideas as the authoritarian politics of the 1920s and 1930s. Such politics, Magyar Narancs believes, are provoking ‘moral decline’ in Hungary.

Népszava’s Péter Németh finds it sad that the opposition parties are running separately in the election. What is even more disappointing, he continues, is that the even the Left has again missed the opportunity of jointly challenging the governing forces. Németh is highly sceptical whether the same opposition parties that in the European Parliamentary election fight one other will unite against Fidesz in time for the municipal elections in the autumn.

In 168 Óra, Ervin Tamás also fears that it will be difficult for the Left to cooperate in the municipal elections after their tough battles for leadership in the European Parliamentary election. The left-wing columnist thinks that the intra-Left disputes alienate voters and weaken the opposition. Tamás adds that the disputes among the left-wing parties about global challenges and migration are more sophisticated than what he calls the government’s simplifying populist rhetoric, but he fears that the general public do not appreciate nuanced political answers.

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