Socialists ‘incapable’ of ousting govt alone, says former party chief

Budapest, October 24 (MTI) – The Socialist Party is not capable of “ousting” the current government on its own, as it does not have anywhere near the voter base needed to accomplish this, the party’s former leader said on Monday.

The government can only be “defeated” if the leftist opposition parties also incorporate “conservative democrats” into their election campaign cooperation, László Kovács told public Kossuth Radio. Then the opposition will be able to nominate a candidate for prime minister who is not a member of one of the parties, but rather a “recognised professional” whom “everyone can accept”, he added.

Kovács said the reason for the failure of the leftist opposition’s joint election campaign of 2014 was that then-Socialist Party leader Attila Mesterházy had been “hell-bent” on being named the alliance’s candidate for prime minister over “the far more qualified” former prime minister Gordon Bajnai.

Asked if he saw Dialogue Party co-leader Gergely Karácsony as a worthy candidate for prime minister in 2018, Kovács said Karácsony would make a fitting candidate, but declined to “speculate further”. Kovács said it was possible that the opposition would end up choosing someone who is “not yet on anyone’s radar”.

Source: MTI