Jobbik calls on Fidesz to release costs of its earlier billboard campaigns

The opposition Jobbik party has called on the ruling Fidesz party to release information about the costs of its 2010 election campaign and related outdoor advertising.

The opposition party’s spokesman, Péter Jakab, told a news conference on Friday that press reports suggested Fidesz had received billboard space from Lajos Simicska’s company for half the cost of Jobbik’s recent outdoor advertisements.

Simicska, a founder of the ruling party who had large sway over its finances, fell out with his childhood friend Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Fidesz accuses him of putting his wealth and business interests at the service of the opposition party.

The Jobbik spokesman said that in 2010 Fidesz bought outdoor advertising space on 1,300 billboards without any accompanying paperwork. This raises the possibility that the party dodged paying VAT, he added.

He said the ruling party would be able to clear itself of these allegations if, like Jobbik, it accounted for all the details of its previous poster campaigns. The Jobbik spokesman insisted that his party had bought advertising space for its current campaign at market rates.