They appear and intrude where something can be reached. Local government mandate, Budapest, American money, teachers' demonstration. This is so necessary, like a law of nature. The problem is that they do not serve the Hungarian people, but foreign business interests, that they do not work for the teachers or the residents of Budapest, but for their own benefit. But it's also a problem that they politicize with destructive intent and there are so many of them (six parties, nine organizations, eleven presidents and eighteen leading politicians), moreover, they hate each other so much that - using Ottó Gajdics' classic - they can't be trusted with a single chicken coop. We really need a change of opposition - it would be better for everyone! But how and what did they sink so far? A small Hungarian opposition tableau follows.
Never be afraid to reach out to the teachers' protest!
Speaking diplomatically: the sociological composition of the protesters has changed a lot in the past two months. It turned out that the series of demonstrations is no longer about teachers' wages, improving working conditions or reducing the number of hours, but rather hardcore anti-government movements in the capital, where anti-Orbán teachers, students who want to hang out and left-wing voters are bussed from rural towns. "parents".
It's no coincidence that people with good sense no longer go out to an event where dolls representing ministers are hung, where the words "Stay away from Orbán!" rigmus, where Áron Molnár sells old hoodies, where stupid students swear for their own sake on stage, and where the reason for this can be explained. Poetry, huh?
Photo: Balázs Hatlaczki
This whole wave of discontent came to the opposition like bread to the hungry. For half a year, they suffered from the lack of anything to say, they produced symptoms of political withdrawal, the independent-objective press didn't cover the issue either, and the fear of the opposition, Péter Márki-Zay, fell on foreign money. But what caused the biggest problem in the ranks of the left was that Ferenc Gyurcsány had a good idea and they formed the shadow government, which gave them a leg up.
And everyone was hooked on this. The messaging has started and the race for the only theme of healthy hands and feet has started. No one held back. No one showed humility, no one wanted to work diligently, no one wanted to think, but everyone wanted to be president, a leading politician or take on some highly visible role.
This is how the six-party coalition turned into a siserehad, which is stuck at the teacher's demonstration.
There are so many left-wing politicians that you can see it from the moon
There is the DK, which is stronger and more extreme than all others, led by Gyurcsány and Dobrev, there is Jobbik with Márton Gyöngyösi, Momentum with Ferenc Gelencsér and Fekete-Győr, and then with Anna Donáth, the president-in-waiting. Then come the parties operating in the co-presidential system, where there are more presidents and leaders than active members. The Socialists with Kunhalmi and Komjáth, but Bertalan Tóth also retained his position as faction leader, then Erzsébet Schmuk, who dropped out of parliament, and Péter Ungár, who entered the LMP, or Párbeszéd, which operates as a media party without membership, where, in addition to the Tordai-Szabó tandem, Karácsony is also the leader face, and finally don't forget the list of those who have yet to run. About Péter Márki-Zay, the ever-moving, loose cannon, Péter Jakab, who is also unstoppable, István Újhelyi, who is thinking about the new party, or Ákos Hadházy, who is featured the most, who is currently wild camping in front of the MTVA headquarters and is waiting for someone from the teachers' demonstrations to come over to him. . Because he also needs some of the delicacy...
Six parties, nine organizations, eleven presidents and eighteen leading politicians want to present opposition politics! And we are still only talking about the ruins of the former rainbow coalition. However, there is also the Kétfarkú Kutya Párt or Gattyán's Solution Movement, which won local government mandates in the by-elections. It's a wonder if the voter gets lost!
Source: pestisracok.hu
There are so many that you can even see them from the moon! And these politicians are all standing up for teachers… well, of course! Let's be honest! They are not interested in anything else, except to show themselves, to sit on the demonstrations, to take selfies with a crowd that they have never been able to rally either individually or together.
Meanwhile, they hate each other more than the government.
Who will Budapest belong to?
In addition to the end of the teacher's demonstration, there is also a catfight for positions in the capital, in which Gyurcsány stands to win for the time being. He has the trump cards and he has the most experience. He knows how to get stronger at the expense of others.
After two mayors from the Socialist Party, László Kiss and Ferenc Szaniszló, moved to the DK, they became the largest faction in the capital assembly. But as if this was not enough, even with the advisory board filled with former Gyurcsány state secretaries, now the DK has bitten into Momentum as well. Tibor Déri, the temporary mayor of Újpest, left his party due to a "loss of confidence", and in the general assembly he joined the Gyurcsánys. Because there, he sees "the effective advocacy of interests ensured."
The battle is obviously for Budapest, which still promises left-wing positions. For the position of mayor (where the Socialists no longer necessarily support Gergely Karácsony) and for those districts where the opposition has a chance. What will happen to the city and districts in the meantime? It doesn't really matter! We see how András Pikó or Krisztina Baranyi are more concerned with keeping the coalition together and calming disputes than with the development of the city.
Source: demokrata.hu
But the capital assembly was also paralyzed for a whole week in the summer due to the debate between DK and Momentum. Gyurcsány nominated Anette Bősz to replace Erzsébet Gy. Német as deputy mayor, and Momentum did not support her because DK did not want to support them in the interim local authority elections in the 11th district. Then - after a little show of force - they just agreed, Anett Bősz arrived and the instant ones could start. The fact that they lost one mandate compared to 2019 is another matter. But it was worth it! Because they showed that you can't mess with them.
In Budapest, Gyurcsány clearly strives for dominance, as in the XXI. In his analysis of the Szazad Institute, Dániel Deák writes:
The previously important mayor of Újpest joined the Democratic Coalition, and Ferenc Gyurcsány took over the management of Budapest DK from Norbert Trippon. Thus, the other left-wing party presidents will have to personally negotiate with Gyurcsány about the issues in the capital, where the DK does not want primaries at all, so they will have to agree on the 2024 mayoral candidates and the mayor-candidate of the left at the negotiating tables. All this predicts that the DK can become the sole ruler in Budapest, which is considered the remaining stronghold of the left, based on which Ferenc Gyurcsány's party can become the gathering party of the left-liberal forces by 2026, according to their old plans. According to leaked information, additional mayors may switch from their current party to the Democratic Coalition in the coming months, and the political future of Gergely Karácsony is highly questionable.
How did they get there?
Landslide-like changes have taken place in the domestic political space in ten years, which surely no one would have dared to accept before and which necessarily led to the fact that the government now has such a high-quality opposition. MSZP collapsed, Jobbik moved to the left, LMP's centrist project died, Momentum turned out to be not so clean and innocent, while the opposition's (re)deeming politicians appeared one after another. After the temporary cooperation, the left fell apart and eventually managed to get from Ferenc Gyurcsány to Ferenc Gyurcsány.
The alliance failed politically and morally. Together, the left-wing parties achieved less than together. Perhaps the historical betrayal of the SZDSZ, its collaboration with the former communists, was on a similar scale. But now there are so many of them and they hate each other so much that they cannot move forward. They fight each other for foreign support, for Budapest, for positions. Not only for the country, for the people of Budapest or for the teachers... The vanquished are standing in line.
And they still can't move on, they still can't overcome themselves and their demons. They continue to work and push to make it as bad as possible for the country, because it will be bad for the government and it might be good for them. If they no longer have their own ideas, then at least the union should persuade the country or the teachers and students should do something. They will always be there, they will always show themselves.
We really need a change of opposition, because then they really can't be trusted with the hen house either.
Author: Ervin Nagy
Source: pestisracok.hu
In our opening image: opposition protesters. Source: pestisracok.hu
