15 votes

Conservative politician Péter Márki-Zay wins Hungarian opposition race as six parties come together to challenge Orbán

7 comments

  1. [4]
    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link
    Márki-Zay is probably the best choice for the coalition. He's a conservative Christian, not much more liberal than Orbán, so he'll have a chance at siphoning away Fidesz votes. Dobrev would have...

    Márki-Zay is probably the best choice for the coalition. He's a conservative Christian, not much more liberal than Orbán, so he'll have a chance at siphoning away Fidesz votes. Dobrev would have been a disaster.

    Still, the opposition parties should have done this coalition thing last election cycle. Orbán has spent the last several years twisting and gerrymandering the Hungarian political system, such that now, even a united opposition has little chance at beating him.

    7 votes
    1. [3]
      Adys
      Link Parent
      Are you Hungarian / closely familiar with the political situation there? I would love to hear more context.

      Are you Hungarian / closely familiar with the political situation there? I would love to hear more context.

      5 votes
      1. Eric_the_Cerise
        Link Parent
        A little of both. I'm American, of Hungarian ancestry, been living in Hungary the past 3 years. I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable as a well-informed Hungarian, but I have been paying attention for...

        A little of both. I'm American, of Hungarian ancestry, been living in Hungary the past 3 years. I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable as a well-informed Hungarian, but I have been paying attention for the past several years.

        Israel just successfully did this, kicked out Netenyahu with a coalition of all the opposition parties. Hungary is trying the same thing, with a coalition of the six major opposition parties, ranging from near-Communists to near-Nazis, and a literal coalition slogan of "anyone but Orbán".

        They've got a chance, but not a good one. Orbán and his party, Fidesz, has spent the past decade—and particularly the past 5 years—rewriting the Constitution and electoral laws, taking over the judicial branch, forcefully taking over or driving out all independent media, etc.

        Klara Dobrev is the wife of a former Hungarian PM who was ground-zero of a major Hungarian "Watergate"-level scandal. Dobrev may well be her own person, but too many people would believe she is just running as a mouthpiece for her discredited husband. Even w/o that, she's probably just too liberal to pull enough support from Orbán (who really is quite popular with many Hungarians, mainly older and rural people).

        As an example of how Fidesz does things, a brand new big-budget action/thriller pseudo-documentary was just released in Hungary, re-examining that "Watergate" moment I mentioned. It is nominally an independent film, and there is absolutely no proof that Fidesz is behind it. But, they are. It is a big budget propaganda piece that will rile up Hungarians and remind them why they elected Orbán in the first place. And indirectly, one way or another, Hungarian and/or EU taxpayers paid for it.

        9 votes
      2. Eric_the_Cerise
        Link Parent
        Another thought/example of Hungarian politics (follow-up to my other response). Much has been made in recent months of Orbán/Fidesz's new focus on anti-gay legislation. Orbán does not care about...

        Another thought/example of Hungarian politics (follow-up to my other response).

        Much has been made in recent months of Orbán/Fidesz's new focus on anti-gay legislation. Orbán does not care about pro- or anti-gay rights -- some Fidesz leaders are vocally anti-gay, and the Party leans that way, but until now, it has never been a priority. The reason now is that it is entirely being used as a tool to drive a wedge in the coalition. The far-right Jobbik party is firmly and prominently anti-gay; the centrist and liberal parties are generally pro-gay rights. Orbán only started the new anti-gay push to try to break up the alliance, and/or steal votes from Jobbik ... "your own party is now part of the coalition supporting the dirty gays; vote Fidesz, instead". Nowhere is it spelled out that bluntly, but that's the idea. Oddly, I have yet to see any political analysis discussing this rationale in any language other than Hungarian.

        6 votes
  2. FirstTiger
    Link
    I remember when I first heard about Viktor Orban (back when I used to read news from more conservative news outlets). He was always presented as this champion of values against an "illiberal"...

    I remember when I first heard about Viktor Orban (back when I used to read news from more conservative news outlets). He was always presented as this champion of values against an "illiberal" liberal tide- no mention was made of his efforts to silence the opposition or to restrict the rights of the people of Hungary. I'm glad to know the opposition has decided to unite to oust him from power- though given his past actions, I expect for him to pull every trick he can to stay in office. I hope they're prepared for an uphill fight

    5 votes
  3. [2]
    vektor
    Link
    Off-topic/Meta but I recently heard that politico was taken over by german media company Axel Springer in august. They're quite detestable for multiple reasons and their brands aren't considered...

    Off-topic/Meta but I recently heard that politico was taken over by german media company Axel Springer in august. They're quite detestable for multiple reasons and their brands aren't considered serious journalism here.

    Is this takeover common knowledge abroad? Do you care? Has politico's angle already started changing?

    2 votes
    1. Fal
      Link Parent
      I don’t think that Axel Springer has taken over yet, but they said that they would paywall Politico once they took over

      I don’t think that Axel Springer has taken over yet, but they said that they would paywall Politico once they took over

      2 votes