The Tisza Party made a big mistake, it lost its pace, it is fomenting division at a time when people want unity in a disaster situation.

"The flood situation is an extraordinary moment in politics, and extraordinary times require extraordinary means. In such cases, those who compete only for the usual daily media attention, or who aim to appeal to a particular voting group, can easily be disappointed in their effectiveness. In politics, too, everything has its appointed time: attack, defense, polarization and the building of national unity or the extension of the right to peace," wrote Ágoston Sámuel Mráz in his Facebook post.

According to the head of the Nézőpont Institute, Péter Magyar made the switch quickly in relation to flood protection, but his "switching" was wrong.

Although the president of the Tisza Party had many pictures taken of him standing on the dams in rubber boots, he constantly attacked his political competitors. He missed the Prime Minister, criticized the water experts and belittled the National Guard.

"However, the attack is not timely, Péter Magyar missed the pace. In a disaster situation, voters expect national unity and cooperation from those who apply to run the country," emphasized Sámuel Ágoston Mráz.

"It is worth noting that the duo of Csepel, who are not known to stand against each other, former mayor Szilárd Németh and current mayor Lénárd Borbély reached the unimaginable handshake at the dam, just like a week earlier. Viktor Orbán also felt the opportunity dictated by the situation and appeared as a controller (as usual during Covid), rather than as a fighter who is probably close to his heart", Mráz gave an example of the cooperation across political sides.

Mráz pointed out that the lesson learned by analysts in recent days is that a hyperactive media presence is not automatically beneficial.

"Péter Magyar, who can not only write Facebook posts during the flood defense, but also comments under many articles, has managed to make his actions visible and his personality even better known, but this is not the same as a successful strategy.

You have to be able to use media attention well. Hungarian politics is full of negative examples, as Ferenc Gyurcsány is well-known, but not well-liked," Mráz reminded.

"In the end, we also learned that the doyen of analysts, Gábor Török, is very sympathetic to Péter Magyar, whom he described - with his usual objectivity - as a skilled, professional and successful politician in one paragraph, contrasting him with the "rusty" government. However, having also been engaged in political analysis for 18 years now, reading his lines gave me a sense of déjà vu. I remember that before 2018, Gábor Török expected a similar amount from Gábor Vona, he also indicated before the election that "you can feel in the air that this is already the declining era of the Fidesz world" (24.hu). Since then, Fidesz has won twice with two-thirds. Péter Magyar can also easily meet the fate of Gábor Vona and Péter Márki-Zay," emphasized Sámuel Ágoston Mráz.

Cover image: Popularity hack disguised as flood protection
Source: Facebook/Péter Magyar