Left-wing dailies express mixed emotions over the new opposition pact, fearing that time is too short to reach out to potential voters. A pro-government commentator thinks that by embracing Mr Gyurcsány as their future partner, Socialist Party chairman Attila Mesterházy and Together-2014 leader Gordon Bajnai have given up their quest for something different to the pre-2010 system of government. READ MORE
The leading leftist daily deplores the main players’ reluctance to revise their electoral pact, and hopes that their announcement has not come too late. The main pro-government daily is less charitable and points out that after so much ado, the leading left-wing candidate for the Premier’s post has yet to be picked. 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
In their traditional New Year columns, left and right-wing dailies alike agree that Fidesz is the probable winner of the next elections, but that prospect does not make them equally happy. READ MORE
A radically liberal commentator accuses dominant left-wing opinion makers and the leading parties of anti-Gyurcsány bias as well of anti-democratic methods in their efforts to keep the leader of the Democratic Coalition outside the left-wing electoral alliance. READ MORE
Various commentators – including even some who otherwise deem the government’s performance appalling – believe that the opposition hardly stands a chance at the elections scheduled for next spring. READ MORE
A new centrist internet opinion site thinks Ferenc Gyurcsány is unlikely to be welcomed in the opposition alliance although he does offer a clear liberal vision. The leading left-wing daily agrees: Gyurcsány does not seem to understand that the Socialists never back down under external pressure. READ MORE
A pro-government daily describes Socialist Party chairman Attila Mesterházy as a leader who is unable to get rid of “the shades of the past”, including two of his predecessors, as well as Mr Gyurcsány and Mr Bajnai. READ MORE
Right-wing commentators concentrate their fire on Bajnai and Gyurcsány, and tend to consider Mesterházy as the victim of the aforementioned. Left wing analysts have begun to voice serious doubts about whether the Socialists and their allies are in a position to even successfully wage a campaign. READ MORE
A leading pro-government commentator condemns liberal opinion leaders for claiming a political role after having ruined both their own party, and the MSZP. READ MORE