Socialists: Fidesz cheated with 2010 billboard campaign

According to the opposition Socialists, the Fidesz party paid well below the market rate for outdoor advertising during the 2010 general election campaign.

The current ruling party bought space on 4,700 billboards nationwide and spent 98 million forints (EUR 318,000) when the real cost should have been 1 billion forints calculated at current rates, Socialist press chief István Nyakó told a press conference on Wednesday. Moreover, the ruling party claimed in official documentation that it had paid just 36 million forints, Nyakó said.

Fidesz paid media magnate Lajos Simicska a much lower price than Jobbik paid for billboards in its recent anti-government campaign, he added.

Simicska at the time had a key role in the Fidesz party and now supports Jobbik. Fidesz has accused Jobbik of colluding with Simicska and buying ad space at a reduced price. Jobbik denies the charge.

Nyakó insisted that Fidesz had placed many billboard ads “illegally” and had thereby manipulated the election outcome. The Socialists, he said, demand to know which Fidesz official approved the party’s 2010 billboard campaign and who bargained with Simicska.

Source: MTI