A centrist analyst on the stakes at next year’s election

A liberal weekly carries a long interview with an independent political analyst who suggests that the next parliamentary elections will curb the powers of Hungary’s Prime Minister. The question is, to what extent.

On hvg online, political scientist Gábor Török believes the government will probably emerge as the winner of the 2022 parliamentary elections. If the opposition remains united, however, he continues, it will be practically impossible for Fidesz to keep its two-thirds majority in Parliament. That in itself would amount to a radical change in Hungarian politics, for the Prime Minister would thereby be regularly forced to make concessions to the opposition. Several Constitutional Court judges are due to retire after 2022, for example, and their successors must be elected by at least two-thirds of the votes in Parliament. Should the opposition manage to oust the incumbent government, Török muses, the model of governance would undergo an even greater change. Instead of an extremely strong Prime Minister, the new Premier would be compelled to ceaselessly co-ordinate the very disparate opinions and interests of his coalition.

Tags: elections, Orbán, Parliament