Opposition-leaning weeklies on Márki-Zay as candidate for PM
October 25th, 2021Left-wing and liberal commentators warmly welcome Márki-Zay as the opposition front-runner in next year’s parliamentary election but worry if he will be able to keep the disparate forces of the opposition united during the forthcoming six months.
In Jelen, Zoltán Lakner celebrates Márki-Zay’s victory in the opposition primary as a triumph of the public voice over interparty deals. The victorious outsider candidate, he writes, managed to achieve what the opposition had been hoping for in vain for the past decade, namely mobilising new voters. This was how he could defeat the two most prestigious opposition candidates. Meanwhile, he had to sharply criticise his rivals, and must now prove his ability to lead those whom he has denigrated for weeks, Lakner concludes.
In Heti Világgazdaság, Péter Hamvay remarks that Márki-Zay will have to lead an opposition campaign in alliance with the same parties who have been so unsuccessful thus far, and find a way to reshape the old opposition. Even if he wins the elections and becomes Prime Minister, Hamvay continues, his position will be shaky because the parties of the future coalition could topple him whenever they deem it necessary.
In an unsigned editorial, 168 óra also believes that Márki-Zay’s candidacy signals dissatisfaction within the opposition with their traditional leaders. He won because he is not a member of the opposition establishment. He has given hope to a young generation of voters and 168 óra cautions opposition leaders against turning against him and thereby deceiving the hopes of those young people.
Magyar Narancs fears that the enthusiasm ignited by the high turnout at the primary might infuse the opposition camp with exaggerated optimism. It looks like evermore people take Viktor Orbán’s fall for granted, the editors write, but they are mistaken. Turnout at the primary was high in the cities but low in rural areas, Magyar Narancs remarks. Now the enthusiasm of the primary must be converted into a mobilising force – and that will be a harder task than just winning the primary by criticising DK leader Ferenc Gyurcsány – they warn.