Hungarian Conservative

The poll results concerning the perceived suitability of political leaders for the prime ministerial position are revealing: among potential candidates for a parliamentary election, Viktor Orbán is considered the most suitable to lead Hungary by 49 per cent of Hungarians.

‘Thanks be to God He did not let them kill him,’ said the Hungarian prime minister in his regular public radio interview this morning. Viktor Orbán expressed hope that this means God has plans for the president.

After the three-day recount, it was confirmed that Karácsony received 371,538 votes, while Vitézy received 371,245.

The Nézőpont Institute compared how EPP MEPs voted on five highly significant issues in the previous European parliamentary term, how Hungarians view these issues, and how the new right-wing party family, Patriots for Europe, which issued its Patriotic Manifesto on 30 June, aligns with these views.

The analysts invited to assess the outcome of the EP and municipal elections noted that the result the ruling parties achieved on Sunday would likely have translated into a two-thirds majority in a parliamentary election.

Viktor Orbán expressed gratitude to all Hungarian voters who decided to participate in the dual election. He noted that the turnout for the municipal and European Parliament elections on Sunday was record high in Hungary, reaching 57 per cent.

While Vitézy led for a long time, the mayoral elections ended up in Karácsony’s favour. Fidesz took the expected 11 Parliamentary seats.

‘On multiple occasions, on camera, Jakab was explained that he is currently part of the legislative branch of the government, and he is in the running to lead the executive, thus he has no business giving out prison sentences, because that is under the purview of the judicial branch. It is unclear how much of it sunk in for young Péter, but he kept going with his simplistic shtick.’

The last-minute withdrawal of the Fidesz candidate might propel Dávid Vitézy into the lead only two days ahead of the elections.

According to a survey commissioned by liberal think tank Republikon, Szentkirályi has managed to rally the Fidesz base in the capital, while Karácsony has succeeded in garnering support from the opposition. Szentkirályi has overtaken former Centre for Budapest Transport, independent candidate Dávid Vitézy in the poll.

Gergely Karácsony confidently leads the race for the mayor of Budapest, according to a survey by the Publicus Institute: 46 per cent of all respondents would vote for him in the municipal elections on 9 June.

Former President János Áder spoke about his podcast initiative, the Blue Planet podcast, emphasizing the need to address environmental concerns. He explained that when launching the podcast in October 2020 his aim was to reach as many people as possible, especially the youth, with discussions on sustainability and solutions to environmental issues.

Despite focusing his campaign on fighting against corruption and for more transparency in politics, opposition firebrand Péter Magyar decided to jump into the 2024 EP and municipal elections in a very unusual: he founded a civil organization around himself, then that organization partnered with a ‘phantom party’ founded in 2021 to get Magyar’s candidates on the ballot.

‘There is an evident deficit in competence between the right-wing and left-wing organizations in this country. Part of it has to do with competent, otherwise not ideological people gravitating toward the side more likely to win. In cases like the so-called “alternative referendum” initiative that deficit is put on glaring display.’

MP Fekete-Győr was convicted of assault on a public official, for throwing a smoke grenade at police officers at a 2018 protest. István Hollik of the ruling Fidesz party has called on him to resign, which he is refusing to do.

While the new liberal government in Poland has brought the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis within a month, Hungarian MP Márton Tompos from the leftist Momentum party is apparently looking to emulate the Polish Prime Minister, and is threatening with similar retaliation in the low chance of a leftist takeover in Hungary.

In the year 2023, a political mechanism was broken in Hungary: even downturns and runaway inflation could not dramatically alter the balance of political power.

European debates tend to ignore the fact that Hungarian politics—sometimes peculiar and certainly unusual to many Western observers—is not meant to curb liberties or enable oppression but, on the contrary, to further freedom and efforts to attain it.

The spring session of Parliament began on Monday. The Prime Minister stated that the Hungarian government is on the side of peace, and pointed out that peace is also the only way inflation can be stopped within the EU.

Many politicians from smaller and less successful opposition parties have transferred to DK since the last election in April 2022. The reshuffling of old faces, however, is unlikely to bring more electoral support for DK.