Minister: joint opposition gave space among its ranks to fascists, communists

In response to a question, Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, insisted that Hungary’s left wing no longer comprised democrats.

Assessing opposition politicians’ actions since the elections, he said acceptance of the election outcome was the basis of democracy. He said that over the past 32 years, Fidesz had always congratulated its opponent on winning an election, and it was “the alpha and omega of politics” that voters were always right. This, he added, did not seem to apply to the left wing, which looked to blame voters instead of assessing at its own weaknesses. Further, Gulyás accused the united opposition of

giving space among its ranks “to fascists and communists”.

“Their behaviour on election night and the period since has clearly dissolved illusions that they would be able to govern,” he said. “Not even is there a minimum level of cooperation between these parties.” Gulyás added that it was unreasonable to lay the blame for the opposition’s defeat at the feet of Jobbik. “Many sensibly thinking left-wing voters also knew in advance that the number of the allied opposition’s supporters would not equal the sum of the individual participants’ supporters,” he added.

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Many left-wing voters cast their votes for the allied opposition because they had no other choice.

“But their heart wasn’t in it,”

he said. Voters should not be looked down on, he said, adding that insulting voters would not strengthen the left wing’s already weak democratic traditions.

“I can see chaos on the left on issues that could be clarified with a minimum level of goodwill and professionalism,”

he said, citing the opposition’s approach to the war in Ukraine as an example. “These are strong symptoms of inadequacy … regardless of ideology or party preference,” he added. Regarding Fidesz’s victory, Gulyás said that since 1990 no party had received such strong support. He added that

“nearly 3.7 million voted in the same direction” when it came to the referendum on child protection.

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In response to a question about Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visit to the Vatican on Thursday, Gulyás said the government had no problem with the current agreement with the Vatican and any discussion of an amendment would only take place if the Vatican initiated one.

Regarding the election, where the ruling Fidesz-KDNP party alliance won a super-majority by securing 135 out of the 199 seats in parliament, Gulyás said “Hungarian democracy has always been strongest with a civic government at the helm.”

Turnout was the largest, around 70 percent, at the elections in 2002, 2018 and 2022, all of them held with Fidesz in power,

he said.

The new parliament and government will have an extremely strong mandate, Gulyás said. Some 54 percent of Hungarians, over 3 million people, voted for the list of the ruling parties, while the opposition “united from the far left to the far right” barely garnered 2 million votes, he said. The Mi Hazank (Our Homeland) party, which passed the 5 percent parliamentary threshold for the first time, had some 330,000 votes, he said.

“No party has received as many votes as the civic forces have, after a decade-long rule, at the last election,”

he said.

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Source: MTI