LMP, PM party enter informal talks on potential cooperation

Budapest, June 9 (MTI) – Green opposition LMP and the Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party have entered informal talks on the possibility of future cooperation, daily Magyar Idok reported on Thursday.

The talks come after former LMP co-leader András Schiffer’s resignation as LMP co-leader in late May.

PM was originally a platform within LMP, but it broke away to become a party of its own in 2013 due to internal disagreements about cooperation with other opposition parties in the 2014 election. PM then entered for the general election on a joint ticket with Egyutt while LMP ran independently and cleared the 5 percent threshold required for parliamentary representation.

Magyar Idok said the reason for the newfound possibility of cooperation was PM’s strong showing in a local by-election in central Hungary last weekend in which the party received 7 percent of the vote.

PM spokesman Bence Tordai did not confirm the talks to the paper but said he “accidentally ran into a few LMP politicians on the street” a few days ago. Tordai noted, at the same time, that the two parties had cooperated in the recent past in setting up an anti-corruption foundation.

Tordai told Magyar Idok that his party is keeping a close eye on LMP’s comments about its post-Schiffer era.

The paper noted that LMP co-leader Bernadett Szél, who currently runs the party alone, said her party would contest the 2018 general election alone but did not rule out cooperating with opposition parties on certain issues.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters