Democratic Coalition

Former PM Gyurcsány re-elected again

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) has reelected Ferenc Gyurcsány as its leader, the party said on Wednesday. Hungary is drifting and lagging behind, and 2025 is shaping up to be a “terrible year, not a fantastic one”, the re-elected DK president told a press conference today.

Former PM Gyurcsány reelected

DK is “the only party in which the chairman is not elected by a small circle of delegates but by all members with voting rights,” the statement said, adding that fully 97 percent of the membership had supported Gyurcsány in the vote conducted online between January 10 and 20. Vice-chairpersons and other officials of the party will be elected by a DK congress to be held on February 2, the statement said.

Hungary ‘drifting, lagging behind’, says Gyurcsány

Hungary is drifting and lagging behind, and 2025 is shaping up to be a “terrible year, not a fantastic one”, Ferenc Gyurcsány, the leader of the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK), told a press conference on Wednesday. Gyurcsány has been reelected as party leader by party members in an online vote held between Jan 10 and 20.

At the press conference, Gyurcsány said he expected growth to lag behind expectations and inflation to be higher than the target, while problems plaguing health care and public education would go unsolved. He welcomed DK’s proposal to parliament to discuss dissolving parliament and calling early elections. Gyurcsány said DK was preparing for an “intense political year”, adding that a stronger European Union, “a United States of Europe” was needed.

The world under the influence of US President Donald Trump “will be a terrible world”, he said. “It will be a good time for the strong, powerful and privileged, those who don’t like restrictions for the sake of public good … but it will be a difficult time for those who want a calm, everyday, prosperous life.”

Conflict after conflict to come

While Trump, American billionaire Elon Musk and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban “are on the side of the powerful, strong and privileged”, DK will continue to work for those who want less influence in their hands and more opportunities for those “who just want to live their calm, everyday lives”, he said.

“Year 2025 would see conflict after conflict,” Gyurcsány said. “Donald Trump wants Greenland and Panama, the Chinese president wants Taiwan increasingly openly” and Putin “is marching in Ukraine, he said. “Hungary must stay at a safe distance from those conflicts; currently, the greatest obstacle to that is the Hungarian prime minister.”

DK is holding its annual congress on February 2, when they will elect its leadership, and Gyurcsány is set to give a speech evaluating 202 before parliament’s opening session, he said.

Asked about the opposition Tisza Party, Gyurcsány said the most important meeting point was that both parties thought the incumbent government was harming the country. “We both think that it is our duty as well as responsibility … to send them packing.” DK is fielding its candidates continuously for next year’s general elections, and will start cooperation talks with all candidates named, “but those wanting to cooperate will have to be ready for some kind of compromise.”

DK was confident they would clear the parliamentary threshold, he said.

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End of an era? A new poll shows PM Orbán’s popular support has reached a historic low

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January 22, 2025

End of an era? A new poll shows PM Orbán’s popular support has reached a historic low

The IDEA Institute has reported that popular support for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party has reached a historic low. According to their latest poll, conducted earlier this month, the Tisza Party, led by Péter Magyar, is now 9% ahead of Orbán’s governing coalition. This marks an unprecedented shift in Hungary’s political landscape, as Orbán’s Fidesz has dominated the polls for nearly two decades.

Orbán’s Fidesz was leading the polls for nearly two decades

The last time Fidesz lost a general election was in 2006, during the parliamentary elections when former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány’s Socialist Party and its liberal allies defeated Orbán’s alliance. Since September 2006, Fidesz has consistently led opinion polls until 2024, when the Tisza Party’s support first surpassed Fidesz in the latter half of the year.

Péter Magyar Viktor Orbán early elections — Péter Magyar and PM Orbán in the European Parliament during their first head-to-head debate. Photo: Facebook/Péter Magyar

Even though Fidesz won the 9 June European parliamentary elections with a significant advantage, the number of pollsters measuring a straggling Orbán team is growing. The latest poll highlighting Fidesz’s considerable lag was conducted by the IDEA Institute. According to Telex, the pollster reported that Fidesz currently holds 26% support among the Hungarian population, compared to the Tisza Party’s 33%.

Tisza leads Fidesz by 9%

The figures are even more concerning when focusing on voters who would cast their ballots and can choose from the political parties. In this context, Tisza garnered 45%, while Fidesz stands at 36%. According to the IDEA Institute, two other parties could surpass the threshold if the general election were held this Sunday. The far-right Our Homeland party would secure 7%, while Gyurcsány’s Democratic Coalition would achieve 5% (the electoral threshold in Hungary is also 5%). Meanwhile, the Two-Tailed Dog Party, polling at 3%, would fail to send MPs to parliament.

Our Homeland Mi Hazánk demonstration — The supporters of Our Homeland. Photo: FB

.IDEA also reported that the proportion of undecided voters has decreased significantly, dropping from 37% in late 2024 to 26% in January 2025.

The turning point

Telex compared the results of various pollsters and identified a turning point in support for Orbán and the Tisza Party in November, when Tisza overtook Fidesz. While Tisza has been attracting an increasing share of the popular vote, they have effectively dismantled the rest of Hungary’s left-liberal opposition. Only the far-right Our Homeland has managed to maintain its voter base.

The Orbán government plans to introduce new financial aid measures, along with increased allowances and tax benefits, in 2025. They are also aiming to secure the release of frozen EU funds and attract foreign investment to bolster the Hungarian economy. These measures are intended to maximise their support ahead of the 2026 general election. Meanwhile, Péter Magyar has continued to draw public attention to allegations that the Orbán administration is “robbing” the people and mismanaging the country. Experts emphasise that Fidesz’s mobilisation capabilities remain unparalleled, as do its financial resources and communication strategies.

The latest IDEA Insitute poll was conducted through online questionnaires and has been deemed representative. The sample size was 1,500, with a margin of error of ±2.3%.

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January 22, 2025

Convincing victory for Orbán’s Fidesz on today’s by-election in Tolna 2

Fidesz victory in Tolna 2 electoral district (Copy)

Krisztina Csibi, the candidate of the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance, won Sunday’s by-election in Tolna County’s 2nd electoral district, in south-western Hungary, with close to two-thirds of the vote.

Data published by the National Election Office with 99.12 percent of the votes counted shows Csibi with 11,913 votes, 63.7 percent of all votes cast. Dóra Dúró of opposition Mi Hazánk had 3,588 votes (19.18 percent) and László Takács of the opposition Democratic Coalition had 2,055 (10,99 percent). Independent candidate Gábor Harangozó had 437 votes (2.34 percent), independent Ernő Vilcsek 380 (2.03 percent) and Pál Péter Ágoston of the Second Reform Age party had 330 votes (1.76 percent).

The by-election was held to decide who takes up the parliamentary seat of Árpád János Potápi, who served as a Fidesz MP for Tolna County’s 2nd district and state secretary for policies for Hungarians across the borders when he died in October last year.

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January 12, 2025

Fidesz: Early election not on the cards

Budapest Sight Parliament Parlament Danube 2

Voters will choose political parties in the usual way, the head of the Fidesz parliamentary group said on Monday, vowing not to cave into demands to bring the general election forward.

An early election has not been held since 1990 and another will not be held in future, Máté Kocsis said on Facebook in reaction to the latest call for the election to be brought forward, this time by Ferenc Gyurcsány, the leader of the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK).

related article: Gyurcsány calls on ruling party lawmakers to support call for early election

He accused Gyurcsány and Tisza Party leader Péter Magyar of being stooges of Brussels. “We know full well where the wind is blowing from,” he wrote. Kocsis said the financiers of foreign people of influence had “given orders to stop Viktor Orbán from governing durably after Donald Trump takes office”, adding that Trump and Orbán opposed war and both would impair the “war policy of Brussels” as well as the implementation of the migration pact. With Trump soon taking office, “it is understandable that … it has become urgent for the Brussels elite to effect the quickest possible change of government in Hungary. This is why they want to dissolve parliament; this is why they are demanding early elections…”

Kocsis accused DK and Tisza of coordinating to bring forward the election and of “actively cooperating in Brussels and … in the Budapest assembly, too”. In the last big election “barely six months ago”, “our community” received more votes than the second, third and fourth place combined, he said, adding that this was ample evidence of the current state of voter sentiment.

The Fidesz politician said Gyurcsány’s Socialist government had presided over “extremely high” personal income taxes and poor salaries for civil servants and teachers, while Fidesz had worked to ensure broad wage increases and a three-year agreement on raising the minimum wage. PIT, meanwhile, “is the lowest in the region”, he added. Whereas Gyurcsány “took away the 13th month pension, we handed it back, and we’re making it permanent,” he wrote. He also accused the DK leader of planning to “tear down the border fence and let migrants in”.

As we wrote earlier, opposition Tisza leader Péter Magyar called for early elections.

January 7, 2025

Gyurcsány calls on ruling party lawmakers to support call for early election

Ferenc Gyurcsány, the leader of the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK), has sent a letter to lawmakers of the ruling Fidesz and Christian Democrat (KDNP) parties, asking them to support a call to bring forward the general election.

Gyurcsány said on Facebook that he would ask MPs: “Are you afraid of the Hungarian people? Do you support the call for an early election?”

In the letter also posted online, Gyurcsány said recent developments in Hungarian public life, politics and the economy “have unrevocably rocked the credibility of the sitting government and eroded its public support.”

He insisted the government had dismantled the system of democratic checks and balances in Hungary. “After the 2022 elections, it has become even clearer that, according to the spirit of the constitution, the government is acting unlawfully,” he said.

“Lawful governance is not the appearance of lawful actions but compliance with the will of the people as enshrined in law. The government broke the will of the people when it took over and dismantled the republic,” he said.

Gyurcsány said voters had not given the government a mandate “to strive to obtain exclusive power unconstitutionally”. “Only fair elections mirror the will of the people … and a government based on [unfair] elections is unlawful.”

Moreover, the government, he added, had failed to fulfil all its key promises, failing to maintain household utility price caps, to protect small and medium-sized enterprises and put Hungary’s economy back on its feet, he said.

He insisted that the Orban government was in the process of introducing “post-Communist Hungary’s most severe austerity package”, even as they were neglecting to tackle “skyrocketing inflation and fuel prices” and a decade-high public debt and a low-value forint.

“Hungary has been visited by an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis … we have been overtaken by the Czechs, Poles, Romanians and Bulgarians; we are now lagging behind in Europe,” the DK leader said.

“Apart from Hungarians, you have also betrayed our country’s network of allies. [Prime Minister] Viktor Orban is talking about Hungary’s neutrality in a global struggle but has actually taken the side of Russia and China against the interests of Europe, resulting in unprecedented distrust in Hungary’s government…”

Meanwhile, “all-encompassing corruption in Hungary and breaches of the rule of law” resulted in the country losing its access to EU funding worth 400 billion forints, Gyurcsány said. “Hungary has lost that money for good because of you,” he said in the letter. “What … could the country expect from another year and a half of governance by this majority?”

He said Hungary had an interest in a leadership with a credible democratic mandate, capable of making decisions with wide social support. “The current situation is untenable, and every day you continue to govern only adds to the hardships in Hungary.”

“Let the people decide! That’s why we propose that parliament announcing its own dissolution on March 1. The time until then will be an opportunity to create the legal and political foundation for fair elections. In view of all that, I ask whether you are afraid of the Hungarian people, and support early elections? Hungary is awaiting your answer,” Gyurcsány wrote.

As we wrote earlier, opposition Tisza leader Péter Magyar called for early elections.

read also: Will early election be held in April in Hungary? PM Orbán’s main challenger in “campaign mode” – UPDATED: Think-tank, NVI

January 6, 2025

Opposition MP: Early elections will happen only if PM Orbán wants it and he does not

Opposition MP Ákos Hadházy believes a snap election in Hungary is only possible if it serves the prime minister’s interest. And, in this case, it would not. Therefore, the chance for early elections is zero.

Zero chance for an early election, says government-close think-tank

Ákos Hadházy, the opposition MP of Zugló (Budapest’s 14th district) believes that Péter Magyar and his Tisza Party, the biggest challenger of PM Orbán, intentionally misleads his voters by saying there is a real chance for a snap election in Hungary. Hadházy wrote in a Facebook post that Orbán’s supermajority in the Hungarian Parliament is solid, so there is no chance for an election.

Hungary EU funds canopy — Photo: facebook.com/hadhazyakos

Ágoston Sámuel Mráz, the director of Nézőpont, a government-close think-tank, basically agreed with the opposition MP. He said Orbán’s Fidesz has a chance to win the 2026 general election and would like to fight Péter Magyar then. He added that Fidesz had 2.9 million supporters in the country. Meanwhile, Magyar aims to bring that battle forward and permanently rule political communication. Since his Tisza Party will not have candidates in the two upcoming by-elections in Tolna County and Budapest’s 13th district, Magyar would like to talk about his issues instead of the campaign in these two electoral districts.

péter magyar tisza party early elections — Photo: FB/Péter Magyar

In fact, in Tolna, Fidesz would probably win, while in the 13th district, experts agree that the Democratic Coalition will score a victory since the electoral district was theirs even in 2022.

The leftist Democratic Coalition, the far-right Our Homeland (Mi Hazánk) and the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party are the only three players that can have a say in 2026, based on current polls.

Former PM Gyurcsány also demands early elections

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) has called for parliament to be disbanded and early elections to be called.

Former PM Ferenc Gyurcsány's party DK slams President Sulyok — Photo: FB/Ferenc Gyurcsány

DK leader Ferenc Gyurcsány told a press conference on Friday that the party was preparing to adopt a parliamentary proposal on the matter. “The country is in far too bad a shape to wait another 15-16 months” until the general elections scheduled for the spring of 2026, Gyurcsány said, adding that the government “is clearly incapable of handling the crisis it has practically created.”

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Featured image: illustration, 9 June EP elections, source: MTI

January 4, 2025

Will Budapest approve a budget for 2025? Assembly divided, accusations of chaos and mismanagement

A Democratic Coalition (DK) member of the Budapest city assembly has said his party will vote to approve the capital’s 2025 budget, adding that whoever failed to green-light the city’s financing would back “Fidesz’s interest in sowing chaos”.

Without next year’s budget, Budapest’s public services, its transport system and theatres would cease to function, while the city’s 27,000 employees would not get a wage rise from Jan 1, Sándor Szaniszló, the leader of DK’s group in the assembly, told a press conference before the Budapest plenary on Wednesday, noting that an agreement between the trade unions and the capital on wages has been reached.

Budapest Assembly 2025 budget — The meeting of the Budapest Assembly on 18 December. Photo: MTI/Kocsis Zoltán

Meanwhile, DK will vote to reject the central government’s plan to recategorise Budapest’s four big railway stations to the benefit of “a circle of friends” of the national ruling Fidesz party, which he called a “real estate scam”. Instead, 89 hectares of the land surrounding the stations should be set aside to build affordable rental apartments for young people, while the rest should be devoted to creating green spaces, he added.

Opposition Tisza Party representatives also expressed support for the budget on condition that the assembly adopted an amendment proposal by the party. The group said it disagreed with “several points” of the budget, but added that they were “aware of the historic responsibility” attached to its passage, if their amendment “aimed at facilitating an early review of the budget” were also passed.

According to Tisza, ruling Fidesz and the government were about to “betray” Budapest “and all Hungarians”, while Fidesz group leader Alexandra Szentkiralyi and Prime Minister Viktor Orban were “preparing to steal tens of billions of forints from the people of Budapest; they want to steal our railway stations and airport.” In its statement, Tisza accused the government of “systematically making the life of two million people in Budapest impossible for years”.

The government’s insistence that Budapest pay the full solidarity tax to the central budget in 2025 would leave no money in the city’s coffers to finance city services, it added. “If the city gave in to the blackmail of Viktor Orban and Alexandra Szentkiralyi, public transport would come to a halt, theatres would shut down, and welfare institutions and municipal companies would not be able to pay their staff,” the statement said.

Szentkirályi: Budapest assembly planning to adopt ‘unlawful bankruptcy budget’

Budapest city assembly “is planning to cap the year with an unlawful bankruptcy budget”, Alexandra Szentkirályi, the leader of the Fidesz-Christian-Democrat group, said in the assembly on Wednesday.

Referring to her previous tenure as a deputy mayor of Budapest, Szentkirályi said in her speech before the commencement of the assembly’s business that she had been confronted by how little anything had changed for the better in the past five years. At that point the city was “developing, much cleaner and far more orderly”, she insisted, and the capital had reserves of more than 200 billion forints. Now, the city continues to lack deputy mayors and “operates unlawfully”, she added.

“And now, if I’m not mistaken and I’m interpreting how things are going correctly, [assembly members] want to cap the year with an unlawful bankruptcy budget,” she said. Szentkirályi said Budapest should be allowed to function properly and lawfully. Fidesz, she added, was “working to solve the housing crisis”.

She noted Fidesz lobbying for a “student city” and a Healthy Budapest Programme, and she mentioned numerous developments thanks to the central government. Referring to the left-liberal majority in Budapest, she said the city’s leadership had presided over a financing curve that had started with 200 billion forints in reserves and sunk to a budget shortfall of 50 billion.

She appealed to members of the assembly to consider what was more important, “politics, deals, pacts, future elections, or managing Budapest residents’ lives and affairs smoothly. For us it’s certainly the latter.”

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December 18, 2024

Poll results: Only three parties would enter Hungarian Parliament if election were held today

The ruling alliance of Fidesz and the Christian Democrats would win a 61 percent majority in parliament if elections were held this Sunday, according to a fresh poll by the pro-government Nézőpont Institute.

Only three parties would enter Hungarian Parliament, if…

In December, 38 percent (2.9 million) of the total adult population eligible to vote (about 7.67 million) sympathised with Fidesz, 25 percent with the Tisza Party (1.9 million), the same as in the previous month.

Among those who are certain or likely to vote, Fidesz-KDNP’s list would capture 47 percent of the vote in a general election. Fidesz’s nearest opposition rival, the Tisza Party, would get 37 percent, with the leftist Democratic Coalition just clearing the 5 percent threshold for seats in parliament.

According to Nézőpont’s model, Fidesz would win 74 electoral district races, giving it 121 seats in the 199-seat parliament. Tisza would win the remaining 32 constituencies, giving it 71 seats, with DK winning 6 and the ethnic German minority 1 seat.

New constituency boundaries

The full picture also includes the fact that the percentages of the “most likely list result” are not the same as the distribution of seats in parliament, as individual constituencies play a key role in the Hungarian electoral system. The Nézőpont Institute has therefore modelled how the distribution of seats would evolve “this Sunday” after a hypothetical parliamentary election, taking into account historical electoral trends at the constituency level and the new constituency boundaries.

Taking the voting population as a whole, the ruling parties are backed by 38 percent of the electorate, with Tisza on 25 percent. The phone poll was carried out between December 9 and 11, with a sample of 1,000 adults.

December 16, 2024

Fidesz has maintained its lead – Real-PR 93’s latest poll

Pollster Real-PR 93 said on Monday that if elections were held this weekend, the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance would garner support from 44 percent of decided voters.

In the same group, the opposition Tisza Party would be supported by 36 percent, the pollster said.

Commenting on the survey, conducted between November 25 and 27 on a sample of 1,000 people, the pollster said support for the ruling parties had not changed from October, adding that among Fidesz supporters, “there is no sign of uncertainty.”

Concerning Tisza, Real-PR 93 said support for the opposition party “increased to the detriment of minute leftist parties” could have “reached its maximum”.

The pollster said Radical Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) had a 7-percent backing, followed by the leftist Democratic Coalition with 5 percent and the satirical Two-Tailed Dog with 3 percent. The latter party did not clear the parliamentary threshold.

As we wrote in November, Péter Magyar’s Tisza party ahead of PM Orbán in latest polls but won’t field candidates on next election – Medián poll

Another poll says also, Tisza Party gains momentum, outshining Hungary’s leading Fidesz Party, details HERE.

December 2, 2024

PM Orbán ‘has betrayed’ Hungarians in Slovakia, Former PM Gyurcsány’s DK says

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) has accused Viktor Orbán and his government of “betraying” Hungarians in Slovakia by buddying up with an “openly anti-Hungarian” administration that “will close or merge schools that provide teaching in Hungarian”.

DK calls on Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, to speak out and stand up for the interests of Hungarians living beyond the borders, senior DK politician Sandor Ronai told a press conference in front of the foreign ministry building, where the party also held a demonstration on Sunday.

The new Slovak government had promised not to curb Hungarian-language use in Slovakia, but then they back-peddled, he said.

Slovakia law would ban Hungarian language use on trains, buses, trams, and post offices — Fico and Orbán hugging in Budapest. Photo: FB/Orbán

“Fidesz is silent,” he said, adding that when it came to the issue, everyone from Orban to Szijjártó was “snoozing”.

“This is the real problem with the Orban government: when they want to exploit the Hungarian people, they bring them up as a point of reference; but otherwise the Orban government cannot be counted on either within or beyond the country’s borders,” he said.

Ronai said Orban had been “silent” when his “friend”, President Vladimir Putin, “invaded Ukraine”. And neither he nor Szijjártó had spoken up when the Russians attacked areas inhabited by Hungarians in Transcarpathia, he insisted.

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December 2, 2024

New National Bank governor would “further weaken” the forint, says Gyurcsány’s DK

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) and Socialist parties have criticised the prime minister’s decision to nominate Mihaly Varga, the incumbent finance minister, to serve as the next central bank governor, saying he would “further weaken” the forint.

DK spokesman Balázs Barkóczi told an online press conference that by nominating Varga to head the National Bank of Hungary, Viktor Orbán had “essentially sentenced the forint to death”.

He said the forint is currently trading at 412 against the euro, but the 2025 draft budget assumes a EUR/HUF exchange rate of 397.5. Barkoczi insisted that the draft budget and Varga’s nomination were the reason “why the forint is falling again”.

national bank forint nbh new governor — Forint in trouble after Varga’s nomination? Photo: FB/MNB

Socialist Party lawmaker Zoltán Vajda said the prime minister should have nominated “an independent leader recognised in the field” to head the central bank instead of a “party politician”.

“It had been suspected for months that Mihály Varga will be the next NBH governor, which is another concerning development when it comes to the future of Hungary’s economy,” Vajda said in a statement.

He said the prime minister’s decision suggested “that the government doesn’t intend to make any changes to the policies that have led to the forint’s depreciation and the weakening of the financial security of Hungarian families”.

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November 30, 2024

PHOTOS: Protest held in Budapest against PM Orbán’s electoral law change

The opposition Democratic Coalition staged a protest against a redrawing of individual constituencies at a torch-lit march in Budapest on Friday evening.

The party’s politicians said the ruling parties were afraid and wanted “to cut up” Budapest constituencies because the opposition parties’ candidates were winning in them.

The demonstration started at Szechenyi embankment, near the statue of social-democrat politician Anna Kéthly where DK lawmaker László Varjú said they would resist and not allow a redrawing of Budapest individual constituencies.

Protest held in Budapest against Orbán's electoral law change — The statue of Anna Kéthly. Photo: FB/DK

It proceeded to the Batthyány Eternal Flame monument near Parliament, where DK lawmaker Balázs Barkóczi said that they wanted to send out the warning that ruling Fidesz’s “latest sneaky move” threatened democracy and was sending the message that it neglected the rules of democracy.

Mayor of Budapest’s 11th district Imre László accused the ruling parties of continually manipulating the elections in order to hold on to power. Mayor of the 7th district Péter Niedermüller said that those in power would “scribble” the borders of districts in an effort to ensure that their people could win.

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November 30, 2024

Opposition Tisza: Fidesz-DK grand coalition formed in the EP

The “Fidesz-DK grand coalition” has been officially formed in the European Parliament with the two Hungarian parties voting together against the new European Commission which received decisive support despite “Orbán and Gyurcsány joining forces”, the leader of the Tisza Party said on Wednesday.

Péter Magyar said in a statement that “it is especially funny that Orbán and his people did not support even their own candidate, Olivér Várhelyi”. Magyar added that the latest poll results had demonstrated that “a smear campaign using manipulated recordings” against him did not work but “had the contrary effect”. He said the Tisza Party would continue to focus on healthcare, education, child protection, rescuing the Hungarian countryside, setting the Hungarian economy on a growth path and managing the cost-of-living crisis, issues that impact the daily life of Hungarians.

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November 28, 2024

Bizarre: Former Hungarian PM Ferenc Gyurcsány launches Minecraft server after viral TikTok video

Ferenc Gyurcsány, the president of the Hungarian opposition party Democratic Coalition, made an unexpected promise to his TikTok followers in early November: if one of his videos garnered 1,000 likes, he would set up a Minecraft server.

According to Blikk, what initially appeared to be a casual remark quickly gained traction. Not only did the video surpass the target, but the likes skyrocketed, making it impossible for the project to remain just an offhand idea. Since then, the number of likes has multiplied, and the video announcing the Official Democratic Coalition Minecraft server has more than 100,000 likes.

A brief history of Minecraft

Minecraft, the open-world sandbox game first created by Swedish developer Markus Persson in 2009, is one of gaming’s greatest success stories. Released by Mojang in 2011 and acquired by Microsoft in 2014, it has since become a global phenomenon. By October 2023, Minecraft had sold 300 million copies, cementing its place as the best-selling video game of all time, with 126 million monthly active players.

The game’s charm lies in its freedom and creativity. Players can roam a sprawling 3D pixelated world, collecting blocks, building, battling, and collaborating with others. Its modes cater to different playstyles: Survival, which emphasises resource gathering and combat, and Creative, where infinite resources allow for uninhibited construction.

Minecraft Gyurcsány Ferenc — Source: Pixabay

The meme became reality

At first, many people thought that the Minecraft server was just a meme and this is reflected in the comment section, but Ferenc Gyurcsány’s viewers didn’t give up and kept asking the politician to create the server until they finally got him to do it.

True to his word, the politician known for his jovial social media presence officially launched the server on a Saturday. “A promise is a promise,” said Gyurcsány, admitting he hadn’t expected such overwhelming enthusiasm for the game. The server’s IP address was shared on Discord, allowing eager fans to join.

However, demand quickly outstripped expectations. According to Index, the server’s capacity of 300 players was woefully inadequate, with countless fans trying, and failing, to gain access. Those lucky enough to connect experienced significant glitches, and within hours, the system crashed entirely.

Gyurcsány took the chaos in stride, responding with his trademark humour. He joked that even his nine-year-old son, Marci, was surprised by the overwhelming community response. The server’s collapse, he quipped, was more a testament to the project’s success than a failure. Signing off with his now-iconic “Ciao dolores!” he underscored that the initiative was always meant to be a light-hearted gesture of community fun.

Politicians on social media

Far from being a simple gimmick, this playful move illustrates how politicians can creatively engage with social media. Gyurcsány’s Minecraft venture demonstrates the power of direct interaction on modern platforms, highlighting new avenues for connecting with audiences. By stepping into the virtual world, even through a game, he showed that politics and community engagement can go hand in hand—sometimes with unexpected and delightful results.

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November 20, 2024

Will Roman Catholic priests be obliged to report suspected pedophile crimes in Hungary?

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) will submit again a bill to lawmakers that would legally obligate people to report suspected pedophile crimes, the party’s deputy leader, Ágnes Vadai, said at a press conference on Sunday.

The bill would compel the Hungarian Catholic Church to report such crimes, too, Vadai said. She added that currently the Catholic Church could order an internal probe if there was suspicion of pedophile crimes, but then take a decision “on a subjective basis” on whether or not to file a report with the police.

She noted that a bill on the matter DK submitted to lawmakers in 2021 had been rejected by the governing party majority in parliament’s justice commiteee.

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Will a parliamentary committee investigate child abuse cases commited within the Catholic church? – read more HERE

November 17, 2024

Opposition: Hungarian Parliament blocks proposal for independent inquiry into child sex abuse in Catholic church

Parliament’s justice committee has thrown out a bid to establish a committee comprising civilians and church members to investigate sex abuse against children committed within the Hungarian Catholic Church in recent years, opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) officials told an online press briefing on Thursday.

Ágnes Vadai, the party’s vice president, said DK now planned to take the matter to the legislative committee, and failing that, raise it in a plenary session.

László Sebián-Petrovszki, the (DK) deputy chairman of the justice committee, said that the committee also rejected a proposal to require the President of the Republic to justify any future clemency decisions.

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November 14, 2024

Hungarian opposition DK to nominate own candidates in all 106 individual constituencies in 2026

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) plans to nominate candidates in all 106 individual constituencies in the 2026 general election, according to a party official.

DK’s plan

Public opinion polls indicate that four parties have a chance of entering parliament in 2026, and since Fidesz, Tisza and Mi Hazánk are all right-wing, Christian parties, only Democratic Coalition will represent non-right-wing voters, Csaba Molnár, DK’s executive vice-president, told an online press briefing on Tuesday.

Nominations will be for candidates who are local, well-known, and for the most part already elected representatives.

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November 12, 2024

Corruption: iconic Budapest hotel sold below the market price to PM Orbán’s son-in-law?

Péter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza Party, has slammed deputies of the leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) and ruling Fidesz in the Budapest municipal assembly for “voting together with the mayor [Gergely Karácsony] to sell a part of Hotel Gellért below the market price to István Tiborcz’s circles”.

DK and Fidesz also voted down a proposal to change the assembly’s rules of operation under which “the mayor would have lost his unlimited power in the assembly,” Magyar said.

DK and Fidesz “do not want” deputies to control the selection of the heads of large municipal companies; neither do they want those officials to have a reporting obligation to deputies, Magyar insisted. “Surely they want to continue in the shady dealings they have shared,” he said.

Iconic Budapest Hotel Gellért — Photo: FB/Hotel Gellért

Tisza votes down low household energy bills ‘yet again’, Fidesz’s Budapest leader says

The opposition Tisza Party in the city assembly has yet again voted against the government scheme which saves Hungarian households hundreds of thousands of forints each year on utility bills, Alexandra Szentkirályi, the leader of the Fidesz-Christian Democrat group in the assembly said on Thursday.

Szentkirályi said the party led by Péter Magyar had effectively voted in the energy committee to abolish the scheme, and she cited him as saying previously that the country had been held back because of the “useless” subsidy.

She noted that Fidesz put forward a motion in the city assembly on protecting and maintaining the utility scheme. “But all they could say — led by the Tisza Party — was that they did not support our proposal, and they voted it down,” she said.

The Fidesz politician said Hungarians paid the lowest utility bills in Europe, yet Tisza would “put an end to this in Hungary and Budapest as well”.

“They have proven this for the second time…” she added.

Multiple Fidesz proposals voted down by Budapest assembly, Szentkirályi added

The Budapest municipal assembly voted down several of ruling Fidesz’s proposals concerning housing affordability, Alexandra Szentkirályi, the head of the party’s Budapest chapter, said on Thursday.

Fidesz’s proposals had been aimed at getting the city council to take more effective steps towards resolving the housing crisis, Szentkirályi told public news channel M1.

She said the municipality’s housing agency had only managed to rent out eight flats over the last six months.

“The capital will be receiving billions in European Union funds, and the proposal was to use those funds to help build dorms or company flats instead of channelling the money into … the housing agency,” she said.

“There’s no shame in admitting that you can’t do something and asking for help,” Szentkirályi said. “If the city council is incapable of resolving the housing problem, the government will help.”

She added that she had held “promising talks” in the matter with the national economy minister.

Meanwhile, she said the city assembly had also voted down a proposal from Fidesz which would have called for exploring whether city housing stock could be used to resolve the housing crisis.

Szentkirályi added, at the same time, that the assembly had approved a proposal to look into the city council’s “inefficient” model aimed at keeping utility prices low.

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Iconic Hotel Gellért undergoes grand restoration with luxury operator set to take over
Check out some VISUALS how the hotel will look HERE

November 1, 2024