Even though there were 300,000 fewer voters at the ballot boxes this year than four years ago, 100,000 more cast their ballots for the ruling alliance than in 2018.Continue reading
In a brief, joint statement, the six-party opposition coalition commented on the election results a day and a half after they came in. “It cannot be denied that Sunday’s election is a devastating result for the future of Hungary, as it failed to replace the most corrupt government in Hungarian history,” their letter reads, adding that they still want to cooperate on the evaluation of the elections. So far, however, none of the party leaders has indicated that they would resign over the failure. It is also still questionable whether the prime ministerial candidate will move to parliament or remain mayor of Hódmezővásárhely.
This article was originally published on our sister-site, Ungarn Heute.
“We have a duty to learn lessons after the elections. Since the six opposition parties entered the elections with a joint list and as a joint nominating organization, we must also do this work together. The leaders and co-chairs of the opposition parties met the day after the elections to begin this work, evaluate the results, outline the main tasks ahead, and formulate the framework for further cooperation among the six parties,” according to a relatively brief press release issued Tuesday by the opposition alliance. They added:
We will do our utmost to prevent something similar from happening.”
The joint statement of the six parties and the quick analysis can be considered somewhat belated, as the party leaders could have said at least as much on election night. But they did not stand next to Péter Márki-Zay on the stage to announce their defeat. They left the prime ministerial candidate by himself. So the politician stood there only with his family.
From the six parties, however, only two chairmen were present who ended up speaking on stage alongside Márki-Zay: Anna Donáth, chairwoman of Momentum, and Gergely Karácsony, co-chairman of Párbeszéd and Budapest mayor.
The private television channel ATV has separately inquired from all parties whether their leaders would resign after Sunday’s defeat.
Péter Márki-Zay will decide by early next week at the latest whether he will take up his parliamentary mandate as list leader or remain mayor of Hódmezővásárhely, but he told ATV that he would prefer to remain mayor.
Jobbik could not be reached for comment, and MSZP and the Democratic Coalition declined to comment. The leadership of the Green LMP said that no one will resign.
In the coming weeks, we will focus on the formation of the parliament. We must develop an attitude that will be followed in parliament,”
Máté Kanász-Nagy, co-chair of the LMP, explained.
The Momentum chairwoman apologized to voters for not being able to live up to the trust placed in her. Anna Donáth wrote on her Facebook page that they need to think deeply about what they did wrong, what they need to do differently, and what the future of opposition politics will be.
Both Momentum and Párbeszéd have stated that there will be a renewal in the party and that the presidency will be preserved until then.
Featured image: Péter Márki-Zay, the joint candidate for prime minister of the opposition and chairman of the All for Hungary Movement, before his speech at the event awaiting the results of the election of the United for Hungary on the day of the parliamentary elections, and the child protection referendum at the City Park Artificial Ice Rink, April 3, 2022. Photo by Tibor Illyés/MTI
