Here is the opposition’s plan to dethrone Orbán – UPDATED
The opposition’s referendum will be a way to “give politics back to the people”, representatives of the united opposition said after collecting the signatures required to support the initiative.
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony told a press conference held in front of Parliament on Friday that implementing earlier plans to build a student accommodation complex in Budapest rather than a campus for China’s Fudan University was in the public interest. He also called for a “less tight-fisted” system for job-seekers.
Anna Orosz of the Momentum party referred to the large number of signatories supporting the referendum initiative, saying the united opposition had surmounted manifold difficulties in its bid to topple the current government, and it would do so again.
Erzsébet Gy. Németh of the Democratic Coalition said that the required number of signatures had been collected despite
“the government doing everything” to thwart the initiative.
She asked for continued support to ensure that “this country has a new, democratic government”.
Imre Komjáthi, deputy leader of the Socialist Party, said “deceitful government propaganda cannot cover up a crisis” in which people were struggling to make ends meet “while the government is busy stuffing their own pockets and those of its cronies”.
Párbeszéd co-leader Tímea Szabó said that
the collection of signatures for the opposition’s referendum drive had taken just 30 days,
and the referendum could be held at the same time as the general election on April 3. If President János Áder set a different date, this would “go against the will of Hungarian people”, she added.
LMP co-leader Máté Kanász-Nagy said that the referendum was “becoming more and more relevant”. He accused people close to the ruling Fidesz party of “looting without any inhibition”. After the press conference,
a human chain was formed to forward the signatures collected from Parliament square to the National Election Office’s seat nearby.
Miklás Szánthó, director of the Centre for Fundamental Rights, said on Friday that
the earliest possible date on which the referendum could be held was April 26.
He noted that the National Election Office had 60 days to review the supporting signatures, and its decision on their registration could be appealed at the Kuria, Hungary’s supreme court. Even if the election office’s decision is not challenged, it will only be official five days later and needs to be published in the official gazette Magyar Közlöny, Szánthó said.
If parliament were to approve the referendum in a fast-tracked procedure and if the referendum is not challenged at the Constitutional Court, it would still take until mid-February for parliament’s resolution to become official, enabling the president to set a date for the vote. Under Hungary’s election law, the vote would have to be held between 70 and 90 days thereafter.
Read alsoNo Chinese university campus in Budapest? Green light given to referendum
Source: MTI
I past performances are reviewed, socialist government always ruined the country. Do not make the same mistake again.
An interesting choice of words in the headline. Whole “dethrone” is technically acceptable, it is not usually used in this context since it means to remove a monarch or perhaps a king (in sport). ‘Unseat’ is the more usual expression, although since Orbán has assumed the role of a monarch (along with notion of divine right, no doubt) perhaps it is apt. I wonder if his next aspiration is to deify himself in the manner that Roman Emperors used to. I wouldn’t put it past him.
Dear Kinf Orbánikus I., thanks for your feedback! We will keep in mind not to use ‘dethrone’ in this context the next time. It was just a wrong choice of word.