Merkel’s criticism of Orbán’s domestic politics came through clearly via independent media. The visit made it very clear how far Orbán is from the mainstream European opinion on issues of democracy and rule of law.
The strengthening of extremism is an important signal, but the EU-committed “mainstream” remains strong. If the notion of the crisis becomes stronger within the EU, the prediction of “Europe will fall” can fulfill itself.
The results confirmed the predictions of Fidesz victory, saw a weakening of the still formidable extreme right and led to a restructuring of the Hungarian left. Unfortunately, no liberal MEPs were elected.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor Orbán won his second consecutive term in a landside election last month. The governing Fidesz party managed to retain its absolute majority as the result of arguable new election laws and a highly inept opposition. Even more disturbingly Hungary’s infamous far-right Jobbik emerged as the second biggest party in the country.
The joint event of the Hungarian Free Market Foundation and Political Capital was searching for answers to the ever present questions such as: what is the program of the far-right, how certain far right groups in Europe differ, should the media give these parties a voice, what effective counter strategies exist and is it possible that these parties form a partnership in the EU parliament.
The organizing principle of Jobbik’s foreign policy is being against the West and mainly the USA.
The Republikon Institute carried out a comprehensive and in-depth analysis concerning the electoral base of parties in the parliament. Apart from the characterization of voters the analysis examines some special questions in connection with the political parties which reached the required threshold in 2010 parliamentary elections: in case of Fidesz our major focus was on the so called ’disillusioned voters’, we compared the choices of values among MSZP and Fidesz voters, we analysed the radical…
The regularly conducted monthly opinion typically provide information such as power relations between parties but they rarely reveal anything about how the voters’ behaviour, values and attitudes have changed. Thus, in our newest analysis Republikon Institute’s main goal is to give an insight in deeper contexts, leaving party preferences on the sidelines. Our goal is to find out whether there are any liberal voters left in Hungary – whether the claim often made by liberal…
According to The Budapest Times 15th March (national holiday in Hungary commemorating 1848 War of Independence) 2012 will be marked by two demonstrations held in Budapest. One is organized to protest against Viktor Orban’s policy under the title “Let’s wash away the shame”. On the same day supporters of Orban will gather on Kossuth tér for government-sponsored celebrations. On 15th March Budapest will also see a rally of extreme-right Jobbik. More information in The Budapest…
