A left-wing take on PM Orbán’s projected 28 years in government

A critic compares the PM to undemocratic rulers but ascribes his undisturbed reign to the weakness of the opposition.

In Népszava, Miklós Hajdú finds it unique for a Prime Minister in a democratic country to remain in office for almost three decades, but this is precisely what will happen if Mr Orbán fulfills his wish to remain Prime Minister until 2034, as he is reported to have told his intellectual followers two weeks ago. (See BudaPost, September 12). That would make 24 years in a row, to which he adds the four years Mr Orbán served as Prime Minister from 1998 to 2002. Such long terms in office, Hajdú writes, are only possible in Eastern autocracies. However, he admits, leading dissidents and journalists are not being jailed, nor do they fall from high-rise windows in Hungary. Media imbalance and the majoritarian electoral system can do the job, he continues, but only because the opposition is not a real match for Fidesz. Their disparate forces are set for another resounding defeat in next year’s European Parliamentary elections, Hajdú predicts.

Tags: EP elections, Orbán