Entries RSS Feed Share Send to Facebook Tweet This Accessible version

Party preferences and restrictions

July 19th, 2022

A left-wing, a conservative and a liberal analyst wonder whether discontent with the government’s recent tax and energy subsidy adjustments could give a chance to the opposition to broaden their base.

On rklikk, Péter S. Föld bluntly asserts that Fidesz has utterly failed and has lost its appeal. The left-wing columnist predicts that voters will tun away from the governing party after the announced restrictions to the KATA self-employed preferential tax scheme and the adjustment of household energy price caps. Föld admits that Fidesz still leads in the polls, but he is confident that this will change as soon as the opposition offers a credible alternative.

Writing in Mandiner, Milán Constantinovits believes the opposition is unlikely to turn the tide as long as former PM Gyurcsány is in charge. The conservative commentator thinks that the ‘parasitic’ opposition will fail to attract supporters as it does not offer a meaningful alternative to the government’s vision. As for the government, Constantinovits calls for clear messages and open debates to find the best remedies to the current global economic crisis.

On Telex, the political sociologist Andrea Szabó believes that it is impossible to gauge the long-term implications of the current wave of discontent. Szabó thinks the opposition has so far failed to present a common message or provide a forum for protesters dissatisfied with the government’s recent restrictions. Left-wing opposition parties as well as the far-right Our Homeland are trying to use the opportunity and woo angry voters, she suggests. Szabó even thinks it plausible that Fidesz could capitalize on growing discontent, if it offered a cohesive narrative blaming economic challenges on Brussels, George Soros, migrants, the Left – or any other imagined enemies.

Tags: ,