Hungarian politics in 2019: elections, drama, controversy

The last year of the decade was eventful in terms of Hungarian politics. Scandals broke out, there were two elections, and like any other year, it did not lack drama.

In a month-by-month retrospective article, Kafkadesk reflected on Hungary’s politics in 2019.

The year started with a few demonstrations against 2018’s “slave-law”, but they quickly lost momentum. Then there was the first round of the primary elections, in which over 30,000 people participated, and Gergely Karácsony (Párbeszéd) and Csaba Horváth (MSzP) went head-to-head.

Famous producer Andy Vajna died last January, aged 74. Many politicians and celebs mourned his death.

In the second month of the year, it was announced that Karácsony won against Horváth in the elections with 81 per cent of the votes. Karácsony was also accused by 444 of helping – or not being able to stop – the “parking-mafia” in his district.

Fidesz also announced their initiative to help families with a lot of children this month by giving them tax breaks.

Spring came, and so did a conflict between Fidesz and the European People’s Party because of the propaganda posters attacking Jean-Claude Juncker in Hungary. When the People’s Party’s president, Manfred Weber, came to talk with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the posters were taken down and Fidesz was suspended from the party.

Róbert Puzsér was supported in the mayoral race by both LMP and Jobbik.

The European Parliamentary elections started in April, and people began preparing for the municipal elections as well, which would come in October.

The last month of spring was not uneventful either. The Parliamentary elections had some surprising results, some of which affected Hungary. For Fidesz, it was disappointing, while for Momentum and Democratic Coalition, celebrations were in order. Fidesz only managed to get 14 out of the 21 seats, while Democratic Coalition managed to send four of their people to Brussel, even though they were expecting only one, and Momentum won two seats.

After their poor performance, LMP stopped backing Puzsér in the municipal elections in June, and Jobbik followed their example. Momentum and Democratic Coalition both announced their plans to participate in the second round.

Puzsér announced his withdrawal from the primary and that he would appear on the ballots as an independent candidate in the coming fall.