One day before the elections political dailies publish passionate battle cries, pinpointing enemies which readers should not vote for under any circumstances, barring an unavoidable national tragedy. Sunday’s general election is the first in Hungary without a 48 hour a ban on campaign messages. Weeklies that mostly appear on Wednesday and Thursday took a more analytical attitude, but also made a final effort to mobilize voters. READ MORE
Left-wing commentators still hope that a crushing Fidesz victory can be prevented. In that case, they suggest, any complaints from the Left about the new election rules will seem more credible. Their right-wing counterparts meanwhile are pulling out all the stops to mobilise their readers for one last push. They argue that the latest scandals have stripped the Left of its last shreds of credibility. READ MORE
Commentators on both the right and left fear that Jobbik may increase its constituency yet further in the 6 April Parliamentary election, after reaping almost 17 per cent of the popular vote four years ago. Left-wing commentators argue against despair, and one lays the blame for the bankruptcy of the Left on the Liberals and personally on Ferenc Gyurcsány. READ MORE
A liberal analyst predicts that the Prime Minister will reject the demands put forward by Jewish leaders as pre-conditions for their presence at the government sponsored events of the Holocaust remembrance year. A right-wing pundit, on the other hand blames “uneducated” advisers who led the Prime Minister into a controversy which has proved difficult to handle. READ MORE
The headlines in Hungarian weeklies illustrate a growing controversy over the planned addition of two Russian-made blocks to the existing Paks nuclear power station: “The scandal of the year” (168 óra); “Eastern Block” (Heti Világgazdaság); “The business of the year?” (Figyelő); “Hungary hooked by Putin” (Magyar Narancs); “Change of Roles in Kissidonia” (Demokrata); “Paks Vobiscum” (“Paks be with you”; Heti Válasz). READ MORE
In their first post-new-year’s-day analyses of the electoral landscape, most columnists consider Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party the likely winner of the next elections, although a left-wing commentator suspects that the opposition constituency is underrepresented by the opinion polls. READ MORE
Left-wing analysts fear fatal consequences for the left after the mutual recriminations during and after the joint opposition rally on October 23rd . Right-wing commentators say the reason is that the Left has nothing to say about the main problems of our age. READ MORE
Analysts struggle to account for the gap between opinion polls and the results of local by-elections. They all agree that undecided voters without clear preferences or who are unwilling to share their views with pollsters, will have a major role in the 2014 election and thus parties will spare no effort to mobilize them. READ MORE
Commentators don’t refrain from political remarks while tens of thousands of volunteers, leading politicians among them, help professionals build temporary defences against the highest water levels the Danube has seen. READ MORE
Commentators and political analysts ponder the prospects of the Hungarian economy and the chances of government projects as the country is likely to soon exit the EU excessive deficit procedure. READ MORE