A conservative columnist blames the exclusion of the Roma on what he calls “the culture of poverty” rather than on discrimination by the majority. His left-wing counterpart finds it peculiar that the Right would expect those living in deprivation and exclusion to fight prejudice. READ MORE
Baffled right-wing commentators find the transvestite winner hard to accept. One claims that Eurovision attracts gay audiences, another calls the outcome of the vote an aberration. Their left-wing counterpart thinks Austria may benefit from the Conchita Wurst case. READ MORE
A former LMP politician condemns liberal intellectuals and Socialist politicians who are content with labelling the young supporters of Jobbik as an extreme right crowd instead of recognizing and addressing their concerns. READ MORE
A young pro-government writer suggests that Fidesz helped the Socialists to preserve their place in Hungarian politics, and now it is time for the MSZP to take up the offer and give up “the democracy agenda”. The author, a member of the Young Christian Democrats (affiliated with the Fidesz-KDNP coalition) recalls the so-called Bethlen-Peyer pact as an example which could be emulated today. READ MORE
A pro-government commentator notes that while Viktor Orbán’s Saturday rally was attended by Joseph Daul, the opposition event on Sunday did not even receive official greetings from European Socialists. READ MORE
A pro-government analyst rejects an OSCE report according to which the media is biased in favour of governing Fidesz. A left-liberal daily complains that its election panel discussion was banned because the Kúria (or Supreme Court) and the National Election Comittee (NEC) found them in violation of the principle of balanced coverage by excluding Jobbik. READ MORE
A liberal commentator encourages mainstream politicians to face Jobbik MPs in public debates as the radical right-wing party is too strong to be ignored. READ MORE
A prestigious left-wing commentator believes the electoral law forces the Socialists and their allies to wage an uphill struggle, but blames them for underperforming in the campaign. READ MORE
As two-thirds of banks in Hungary report a profit in 2013 after two years of losses, a conservative columnist points out that contrary to the predictions of left-wing critics of the government, taxes levied on banks have not undermined their profitability. The leading left-wing daily, on the other hand, warns of the low volume of lending. READ MORE
A liberal think tank claims that commercial media decided not to run campaign ads both because this would eat up valuable slots, and because they are afraid of alienating their audience with unsavoury political messages. READ MORE