There is not a single condition for early elections to be held in Hungary.
Péter Magyar and Ferenc Gyurcsány's demand for early elections is both pathetic and ridiculous. And here now I am forced to report my personal involvement, without any modesty. I am not doing this for my own sake, but to highlight that the early election is not something from the devil, but can only prevail in very limited and clear situations - one could say, in political situations of force majeure. The current one is obviously not.
On the other hand, such an extraordinary situation developed in Hungary in 2006, after Ferenc Gyurcsány won the elections.
There were basically three reasons for this: the first is that the government, completely contrary to its promises, implemented comprehensive austerity measures. This meant spitting in the face of the voters and deliberately deceiving them, so Gyurcsány committed electoral fraud in a political and moral sense. The second reason was even more serious: on September 17, 2006, the infamous Öszöd speech was made public, in which Gyurcsány made it clear in his dramatic speech before the socialist faction in May that they had not governed for years, they had only spent the money, they had not actually done anything, and it was only thanks to the favorable processes of the world economy and "hundreds of tricks" that they did not collapse or become bankrupt in the country. After such a confession, Gyurcsány should have resigned immediately - of course he didn't.
The third reason, however, is even more serious: after everyone heard Gyurcsány's scandalous and outrageous statements on September 17, people spontaneously marched to Kossuth Square and demanded Gyurcsány's resignation and the departure of the government.
People had every right to feel cheated and deeply humiliated. What was the Prime Minister's response to this? Of course, he didn't resign now either. The demonstrations continued, the next day, on the 18th, a state of siege developed at the TV headquarters. László Toroczkai wanted to read a petition, but they were not allowed to. The following days were already dramatic: there were demonstrations every day, and the police used brutal means against the demonstrators. Demonstrations demanding Gyurcsány's departure became permanent in the country - not only in Budapest, but also in rural towns.
The situation was tense to the breaking point, and October 23rd came at its peak.
On the 50th anniversary of the revolution, something happened for which Ferenc Gyurcsány will never be forgiven: he incited his police to the peaceful commemorations of the Fidesz event - with the cooperation of the then police chief Péter Gergényi - the consequences of which were brutal.
Mounted and non-mounted police officers without identification drove into the crowd, shot people at head height with rubber bullets, beat the elderly, young people, and priests, produced many peaceful participants without any acceptable reason, beat them to death in the yard of Magyar Rádió, beat Fidesz representative Máriusz Révész to a bloody pulp, and i could go on. Innocent people suffered serious, permanent injuries, and let's finally say it: it was purely due to chance that none of the peaceful commemorators died that night, which was Ferenc Gyurcsány's great luck, because I am sure that if this happens, then the popular anger would indeed have swept him from power.
And what is my personal involvement? The fact that I was one of the first in the country to raise the need for early elections, together with my colleague Simon János, I demanded several times on Echo and Hír TV, M1, Magyar Nemzet, and in all my public appearances.
Obviously, others have talked about this, but I am forced to say that at that time, many people linked the introduction of the idea of early elections to my name, and their continuous and non-stop demand, and I must also point out that I was the one who called for early elections almost throughout I have been demanding it continuously for four years. In addition, I have had numerous debates with colleagues, including in the columns of Népszabadság, not only with people from the left, but also with people who say they are right-wing.
In Hungarian: the idea of early elections was somewhat attached to my name, many criticized it, many were horrified, few supported me.
Because at that time, not only the left, but even a part of the right shunned this as something from the devil.
Of course, as a political scientist, I supported it then and there with professional arguments, citing a lot of foreign examples, that early elections are a legitimate institution in democracies, but they can, must, can, and should be used only in special circumstances (regardless of whether they have already occurred for political reasons). .
There can be at least four versions of these special circumstances: legal (when, for example, according to the constitutional rules, no party constellation succeeds in gaining a majority after an election, so a functioning government or coalition is not formed within a certain period of time), political (this can happen - as now especially in Germany - when a government or government coalition collapses and does not retain a majority in the parliament), economic, when a country reaches the state of state bankruptcy or close to it, and the government cannot to find a solution to deal with the crisis. And the fourth circle includes those cases when the leadership of a country violates the basic norms and rules of democracy to a brutal extent, and tramples human and civil rights into the mud by intimidating and beating the people.
It is clear that economic restrictions also played a role in the 2006 crisis, but the Ószöd speech and the brutal reaction to it on the part of violent organizations caused an extraordinary crisis situation in Hungary.
After the Ószöd speech, it became clear that the Gyurcsánys lied to the people about the country's economic situation before the elections, promising tax cuts, wage increases, and pension increases, but the opposite happened. In other words, the elections were rigged, and this is one of the biggest crimes against democracy. The other biggest crime was committed in the fall of the year by beating and intimidating innocent people. And this is a blatant attack on human rights, which should have had consequences.
Many people remember all this, but it is very important that today's young people never forget who Ferenc Gyurcsány was.
At that time, I wrote an open letter in Magyar Nemzet to the President of the Republic, László Sólyom, asking him to speak in the parliament and propose to the representatives - since he cannot do so - that the parliament dissolve itself. Sólyom made several statements in the crisis situation, but he didn't get that far either. And nothing else - unfortunately. Or yes in words - less in deeds.
I admit: it was one of the biggest disappointments of my life that we didn't really do everything to make sure that there and then - rightfully so! – let the early election take place.
At that time, I also remarked to my friends: pay attention, if Fidesz comes to power in 2010, a few years will pass, and the left, even Gyurcsány himself, will come forward one day saying that early elections are necessary, because the Orbán government has lost the people trust. Unfortunately, I turned out to be a good soothsayer.
That Gyurcsány dares to say on January 3, 2025 that early elections are needed because the people no longer accept this government, which should have been held accountable for its terrible actions in 2006.
Of course, Péter Magyar was the one who came up with the idea (apparently Manfred Weber was not against the idea), Gyurcsány just didn't want to be left behind. But this is irrelevant: the point is that here and now - unlike in 2006 - there are no conditions for early elections to be held in Hungary.
Referring back to the above: neither legal, nor political, nor economic, nor reasons related to democratic and human rights norms justify an early election in our country.
I understand that Péter Magyar wants to stay in the center at all costs, that's why he invents such nonsense. We will soon forget this idea of yours as a bad joke. He can't come out of this well. Only Gyurcsány, only him, could we finally forget...