There is Potential in Hungarian Political Representation in Slovakia

In the view of Hungarian community leaders in Slovakia say that the Hungarian minority party still has some work to do if they want to get into parliament.

Slovakia’s government is in tatters and early elections could be coming soon to Hungary’s northern neighbor. Hirado.hu looked at how the Hungarian minority in Slovakia and the main political movement uniting Hungarian parties in Slovakia called Alliance (Szövetség), can assert themselves in this situation.

According to Hirado.hu, the crisis in the Slovakian government was pre-coded, as the coalition parties think radically differently about some issues. These differences have been exacerbated by the outbreak of fighting between Russia and Ukraine, rising energy prices, and inflation. The coalition’s position is also complicated by personal conflicts between politicians.

According to polls, the coalition is unlikely to get into parliament, Zsolt Kolek, a journalist for the Ma7 portal, told Hirado.hu. He believes that Hungarian voters are confused by the fact that the Alliance, formed last autumn by the merger of the Party of the Hungarian Community (MKP), Most-Híd (Bridge) and the Unity movement, does not include the word “Hungarian” in its name. “They claim emphatically that they are a Hungarian party, but they call themselves Szövetség-Aliancia. The reason for this is that Most-Híd, which was more of a Slovakian-Hungarian mixed party, was wary of including the adjective ‘Hungarian’ in its name,” he noted.

Kolek said this was a big problem, because the last time a third of Hungarians voted for a Slovakian party. The most active Hungarian voters hold conservative values, and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Matovic often tries to copy Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The Alliance has not yet found an alternative. According to the journalist, it is also important to mention that György Gyimesi, a politician of OĽANO – Matovic’s party – appeals to many Hungarians, especially by regularly standing up for Viktor Orbán and Hungary.

László Gubík, the founding director of the Esterházy Academy, said on the one hand, that not all the Hungarian parties in Slovakia merged last year (there is still the Hungarian Forum, led by former MP Zsolt Simon), and on the other hand, although the parties have merged, the support of the predecessor parties has not yet added up, as the Alliance would then have achieved results above five percent in opinion polls. “There is potential in this party, it is just not yet realized,” he noted. According to László Gubík, the early elections would be a great opportunity for the Hungarian party to show that it is capable of representing the entire Hungarian population in Slovakia, but it would first have to get its ranks in order. However, there is no clear communication about what ideology voters would support if they voted for the Alliance, so it is not clear with which parties it would be able to form a coalition.

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