Opposition parties propose mandatory debate for PM candidates

The allied Socialist and Párbeszéd opposition parties have proposed a law amendment under which the two candidates for prime minister who have the highest chances of being elected would be obliged to debate publicly two days before the April 8 general election.

Gergely Karácsony, PM candidate of the two parties, told a press conference on Friday that there were “ever fewer meaningful debates” nowadays.

“Whoever is louder and has more billboards can go on lying without restraint because they don’t face counter-arguments,” he said.

“We want a law that makes the debate happen because as things stand, the unwritten rules of democracy are not enough and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán thinks he can shun them,” Karácsony said, adding he was ready to challenge Orbán to a debate.

“I am prepared for the debate, and thing that truth is on my side. And I feel that if someone is afraid to sit down for a debate with me, that person does in fact not dare to engage in a debate with the truth and wants to go on lying further on,” he said.

Karácsony stressed the need that all parties fielding a national list for the April ballot should be given a chance for expounding their views because the election “will also be about which parties win parliamentary mandates, not only about who will be Hungary’s next prime minister.”

Source: MTI