NOTE: This is the sixth of several articles I am writing to promote my fundraiser to cover the Hungarian election starting next month. To find out more about the fundraiser and how you can help, click here.

The big news out of Hungary at the moment is Fidesz’s shock loss in the Hódmezővásárhely mayoral election on Sunday. Independent candidate Péter Márki-Zay won with 57 percent of the vote, while Fidesz’s Zoltán Hegedűs took 41 percent. This is viewed as a big deal because Hódmezővásárhely is a Fidesz stronghold: a small city near the border with Serbia, it has been controlled by Fidesz or other right-wing parties since the end of communism in 1989. Additionally, János Lázár, the current Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, served as mayor from 2002 to 2012.

Both the Hungarian and international fake news media are proclaiming the election as evidence that Viktor Orbán is in trouble. This is wrong for the following reasons.

1. The Hódmezővásárhely election was a special election/by-election.

The reason the city even had an election to begin with is because the previous mayor, István Almási, died in office. Special elections everywhere have lower and more unpredictable turnout than general elections, so ascertaining national trends from them is difficult.

2. Péter Márki-Zay is a right-wing, nationalist politician.

Both the domestic and international media are pretending that Márki-Zay is a leftist or centrist, but he is just as right-wing as Hegedűs and Fidesz. Indeed, Fidesz attempted to attack Márki-Zay by tying him to Lajos Simicska, a right-wing mogul who used to support Fidesz but is now backing Jobbik. The Hódmezővásárhely election was fought primarily on Fidesz’s perceived corruption and not on migration or any other issue.

This is akin to how the international fake news media crowed about how Fidesz’s popularity fell in the weeks following the closure of Central European University without pointing out that Jobbik, another right-wing party, was the primary beneficiary.

3. Márki-Zay only won because all of the opposition parties supported him.

This is the most important reason why Fidesz lost. Jobbik, MSZP, DK, and the other major parties all declined to run candidates in the election, meaning the anti-Fidesz vote could coalesce around Márki-Zay. All attempts by the opposition to form a united front on the national level have failed, with the only confirmed alliance being the one between MSZP and Párbeszéd. Momentum and LMP are making noise about forming an alliance for the election, but LMP leader Bernadett Szél has declined to enter into negotiations with Momentum until next month, and given that Momentum has had difficulty nominating constituency candidates, they may not even be able to properly compete in the election.

In short, the Hódmezővásárhely mayoral election is analogous to the Alabama Senate special election that happened last December: much ado about nothing. The Democrats and fake news media jerked themselves into a coma over Alabama electing a centrist Clinton lackey who has voted with President Trump more often than with his own party. Similarly, Péter Márki-Zay’s election will have zero impact on the Hungarian election in April.

Read Next: The Hungarian Election: George Soros’ Army of Leftist Losers

Share this: Print

Email

Facebook

Reddit

Tumblr

Twitter

More

LinkedIn

Pinterest



Pocket

Skype



Telegram

WhatsApp



