Gyurcsány pledges cooperation among ‘democratic opposition’ in 2018 election

Budapest, May 1 (MTI) – Ferenc Gyurcsány, head of the leftist opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) party, said the “democratic opposition parties” would cooperate in next year’s election and Fidesz would only have a single “democratic challenger” in every constituency, “no matter what it takes”.

Speaking at his party’s May 1 event in Budapest’s City Park on Monday, Gyurcsány said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was wrong if he thought the disputes among opposition parties would make it impossible for them to join forces against him. Referring to a recent by-election in a Budapest constituency, he said the vote there clearly showed that if they cooperate, they can win “in a big way”.

Gyurcsány said he trusted that this time next year Hungary would have a new, “democratic government”. He said they wanted to fight to recover the country’s honour, the right to live in freedom and to create a normal, tolerant Hungary. He rejected the prime minister’s “war rhetoric” and called for calm and peace. He said Orbán did not defend the interests of Hungarian voters but rather exposed his country to foreign powers. “He does not represent us,” but opens a road for weakening Europe, Gyurcsány said of Orbán.

Gyurcsány argued that Europe should also be a socially conscious community, in addition to a cultural one. Employers should be placed under pressure, he said, in order to raise wages to the western European levels.

The ex-prime minister said DK believes that workers deserve to make a decent living in return for decent work and those who have worked throughout their lives should have a decent pension. However, the government has set the minimum wage below the subsistence level, which is exploitation, he said.

Gyurcsány accused the government of having stolen children’s right to education and schools from communities. The government does not want Hungarians to be well-educated people who can ask questions, but wants to turn schools into “Christian, conservative, right-wing brainwashing camps”, he said.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI