Election 2018: Oppsition parties LMP, Új Kezdet present joint election programme

The green opposition LMP and Új Kezdet (New Start) parties presented their joint programme for the upcoming general election, on Thursday.

Bernadett Szél, LMP’s co-leader and PM candidate, said their “eco-political programme” would provide answers to problems in people’s everyday life. She said the strategy was designed to ensure sustainable welfare from which “a broad group of society” could profit.

Szél said the joint programme would address Hungary’s “wage crisis”, adding the two allied parties would seek partnership with Hungary’s small and medium-size firms rather than with multinationals.

An LMP-Új Kezdet government would spend 20 percent of Hungary’s budget on education, put greater emphasis on prevention in health care and reinforce basic services in the national health service.

Új Kezdet head György Gémesi said the country under the current Fidesz government was heading back towards a Soviet-style system of councils where “all decisions were made by politically controlled offices rather than by elected officials”.

Ruling Fidesz said in response that “LMP has so far grasped every opportunity to defend the interests of [US billionaire] George Soros”, insisting that LMP’S MEP had voted “to support every pro-migrant report”. Referring to Gemesi, the mayor of Gödöllő, Fidesz said in a statement that LMP had formed an alliance with a mayor who prevented in his town from passing a local government decree against a migrant resettlement quota three times, thereby flying in the face of “more than 2,000 Hungarian mayors”.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI