A pro-government commentator lambasts opposition frontrunner Márki-Zay for saying that elderly Fidesz voters have been decimated by the pandemic. A left-wing columnist accuses the pro-government media of deliberately defaming Márki-Zay.
Hungarian press roundup by budapost.eu
Background information: in his New Year video, opposition candidate for Prime Minister Péter Márki-Zay said that Fidesz has less voters than four years ago. Márki-Zay surmised that young Hungarians have turned away from Fidesz, and ‘Covid has also decimated elderly Hungarians who were more likely to vote Fidesz’.
Magyar Hírlap’s Dániel Galsai agrees with Twin-Tailed Dog party leader Gergely Kovács who called Márki-Zay’s remark a tasteless ‘redneck’ statement. The pro-government columnist thinks that Márki-Zay’s words indicate that the opposition’s frontrunner is a loose cannon who cannot control himself. He suggests that Márki-Zay’s statement is not only insulting, but also absurd, as the elderly are also over-represented among core voters of former PM Ferenc Gyurcsány’s Democratic Coalition.
In Népszava, Péter Németh finds Márki-Zay’s utterance simply clumsy. The left-wing commentator also thinks, however, that the pro-government media are deliberately exaggerating the importance of the remark and of standing poised to seize the slightest opportunity in their efforts to destroy the opposition frontrunner.
Featured photo illustration via Péter Márki-Zay’s Facebook page