Public TV airs live electoral debate
June 1st, 2024In their first reactions, commentators find the debate of the eleven top candidates for the European election interesting although not particularly instructive.
On Telex, Zsolt Sarkadi describes the Thursday night TV show as a demonstration of how impossible it is to hold a debate with 11 participants. Viewers heard monologues and participants only had one minute at the end to react to what the others said.
On 444, Pál Dániel Rényi believes that the government side agreed to this format in an attempt to place Péter Magyar among the usual left-wing politicians. Another reason, he adds, is to give a platform to half a dozen insignificant candidates who might thus chip away small bites of the constituencies of the parties representing a real political alternative.
On the pro-government side on HÍRTV, László Szabó also suggested that this was not a real debate. As he saw it, it was a contest among opposition candidates to mention Prime Minister Orbán’s name as frequently as possible and in a negative context.
On ATV, pro-government analyst Ágoston Sámuel Mráz found that DK front candidate Klára Dobrev managed to impose herself as the ‘most anti-government’ participant. Péter Magyar, by contrast, couldn’t help becoming just one of the many opponents of the government.
Tags: Dobrev, elections, Orbán, Péter Magyar