The leadership of opposition Socialist Party (MSZP) has dissolved its organization in Pest County. The local body’s suspended president says the decision only serves as the means for incumbent party president Bertalan Tóth to remain in power even after the upcoming electoral congress. Party director Zsolt Molnár, however, states the decision is simply due to irregularities in the operation of the local organization.
The president of the regional body, Zoltán Fekete, told pro-government broadcaster HírTV that he had not yet received any official notification; however, his fellow local party members had, and that’s how he heard the news. Fekete thinks it is MSZP president Bertalan Tóth who is behind the whole incident as he is trying to maintain his position and keep the regional organizations that support his challenger, former party leader Attila Mesterházy, away from the upcoming electoral congress.
“Bertalan Tóth wants to hold a one-sided reelection of party officials, as the majority of Pest County would support Attila Mesterházy, so he chose this method and is trying to prevent us from being able to participate in the congress with these kinds of authoritative decisions. We have just received the news, so we will obviously sit down, talk it through, and try to prove our stance using all legal means,” said Zoltán Fekete.
On a program of leftist commercial broadcaster ATV, Attila Mesterházy said that the incident likely has personal motives, as most of those removed were his supporters, friends, and allies, which puts him at a great disadvantage in the upcoming elections.
MSZP party director Zsolt Molnár, however, justified the suspension of the county organization with finding irregularities in the management, finance, membership registry, and the process of the local reelections.
MSZP will hold its electoral congress on the 19th of September, during which the party will switch to a co-chair system, with both a male and a female chair to be elected. Bertalan Tóth has already announced that he will run for the post again, with Ágnes Kunhalmi as his running mate.
Featured photo by Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI
