Roma voters may be the ones to tip the scales in favour of either Prime Minister Viktor Orbán or MEP Péter Magyar in this week’s Hungarian parliamentary election, a recently published article by The New York Times argues.
The piece is critical of how PM Orbán’s policies have impacted the Roma minority in the country, comprising about 8 per cent of Hungary’s total population of 9.5 million people in their estimate. The author specifically brings up the lowering of the mandatory schooling age from 18 to 16 in Hungary, which, according to NYT, has led to many Roma youths ending their formal education at age 17.
However, they do not go into detail on exactly what makes people of the gypsy minority give up the pursuit of their education at a lot higher rate compared to other races in the country. According to the article, the primary objective of the lowering of the mandatory school age was to supply the Hungarian economy with a low-paid blue-collar labour force.
The piece also mentions the Orbán administration’s ‘workfare’ policy, started in 2011, which has greatly affected Roma people, especially in rural areas of Hungary. It replaced the typical welfare payments with salaries for menial jobs in public areas.
Another criticism levied against PM Orbán regarding his policy towards the Roma people in Hungary concerns the public schooling system, which The New York Times believes is effectively segregated. The piece claims that the church-run schools in Hungary do not have enough Roma representation.
A social worker taking care of Romani children in a rural kindergarten is cited, speaking out against PM Orbán and the Fidesz party’s treatment of the minority—the article certainly suggests that the Roma people of Hungary will come out to vote against Orbán this election.
However, there is a more interesting underlying message present. Based on the content of this article, even left-leaning The New York Times rejects the polling showing the Tisza Party in massive leads nationally, and instead believes that the election could be decided by the margins in the Roma voting bloc.
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