Opposition parties submit reports to police on alleged Kozgep involvement in election campaign
Budapest, April 4 (MTI) – The left-of-centre Unity opposition alliance has said it will submit a report to police in connection with a recording in which ruling Fidesz party politicians allegedly discuss the involvement of construction firm Kozgep in the election campaign.
The sound recording was released by news portal nyugat.hu.
Socialist lawmaker Gabor Harangozo told a press conference in Budapest on Friday that the recording reveals that Fidesz is not a party anymore but a “public maffia network financed by Kozgep”.
Harangozo, a candidate of the left-wing alliance in Siofok in western Hungary, said the recording includes Siofok Mayor Arpad Balazs and Fidesz-Christian Democrat candidate Mihaly Witzmann discussing how Kozgep would win a tender from the local council in exchange for supporting the ruling party’s campaign, “as it has done in the past”.
This shows that Balazs and Witzmann had confidential information about the public procurement tender results and also knew that another construction firm, Epkar Zrt, linked to Fidesz MEP Erik Banki, was not interested in completing the Siofok hospital construction project, he added.
Harangozo said Balazs had already admitted that he was one of the participants in the recorded conversation and the other person was Witzmann.
Harangozo said Witzmann’s candidacy is advertised on 48 large billboards in Siofok alone. He called on the Fidesz candidate to reveal how they had been able to afford this using a campaign allocation of 5 million forints.
Gergely Karacsony of PM, another member of the five-party opposition alliance, said it had always been known that Kozgep was financing the Fidesz campaign, but now there was solid proof.
Weeks before the election, Fidesz had already spent more on the campaign than legally permitted, and every “giant billboard, bus ads and advertising columns in the Metropol newspaper” linked to firms associated with Lajos Simicska (Kozgep’s chief) are “proof that Fidesz is financing its campaign from corruption money,” he said.
LMP co-leader Andras Schiffer said his party was also planning to submit a report to police concerning the recording.
Radical nationalist party Jobbik said on Friday that it had already submitted a report.
The municipality of Siofok insisted that the recording had been doctored and it would take legal action.
Witzmann denied that Kozgep had given him any financial backing, and he, too, said he would take legal action.
Photo: hvg.hu
Election 2014 – Jobbik vows to tackle “existential crisis”, says Vona
(MTI) – The radical nationalist Jobbik party sees an “existential crisis” in Hungary, the party’s leader Gabor Vona told a press conference on Thursday.
Vona said the way to tackle this crisis would be to increase the number of state-financed places in higher education and expand family benefits.
Today’s benefits for families with three or more children are good but “further incentives should be given to couples to have a first or second child.”
In the very first month of its government, Jobbik would work to resolve the problem of debtors in foreign currency by converting these loans into forint ones at the same exchange rate that the loan was taken out, Vona said.
Jobbik would reduce VAT on basic food products and other basic necessities to 5 percent, and extend the provision under which women can retire after 40 years of employment to men, too, while increasing the value of pensions progressively, Vona said.
Jobbik wants to break with the “political mud-slinging” of the past 20 years. Instead it will concentrate on improving the “existential, social, and economic situation of the people,” Vona said.
Photo: MTI
Election 2014 – Orban Rallies Supporters In Gyor
(MTI) – Prime Minister Viktor Orban, leader of the ruling Fidesz party, held an election rally under the motto “one camp, one flag” in Gyor, in west Hungary, on Thursday.
Orban told party faithful that Fidesz wants to carry on from where it has left off, and called on the crowd to support Fidesz in Sunday’s election. He warned that missing votes from the Fidesz camp would weaken it.
The prime minister referred to his government’s achievements as well as local development projects in Gyor. “We’re not asking for down payment in confidence and support; we feel we’ve already put something on the table,” Orban said.
The prime minister said that over the past four years his government had faced “tough battles with banks, multinational companies, imperial bureaucrats of Brussels”. His government’s guiding principle is “in times of trouble the bravest plans are the safest,” he said.
As the government has won the majority of battles, this tactic has proved to be the right one, he said, citing the 300,000 jobs created and the cuts in household utility bills.
Orban said his left-wing political opponents could offer only “aggression, threats and curses”. “While their passion is hatred, ours is Hungary,” he said. Referring to the radical nationalist Jobbik party, Orban said that Fidesz “has a challenger from the other side, too.” Their approach could be summed up as “Let me play lion, too”, he said, adding that “governing is a serious task and it is useful to put something on the table in advance.”
The main point of the programme of the “party standing to the right of us” is withdrawal from the European Union, but “self-imposed seclusion is a bad response, as those who are not sitting at the table should not be surprised at finding themselves on the menu,” Orban said.
Photo: MTI
Election 2014 – Unity Opposition Demands Authorities Investigate Voter Data
Budapest, April 3 (MTI) – The left-of-centre opposition Unity alliance has called on Tibor Navracsics, the justice minister, to instruct the relevant authorities to examine new registrations for addresses over the past few months, suspecting possible vote-rigging ahead of the April 6 general election.
Jozsef Tobias, the Socialist Party’s deputy parliamentary group leader, told a news conference on Thursday that he had asked to meet Navracsics on Friday with concerns that the number of voters registered in certain swing districts had grown recently.
The opposition alliance has also called for registration offices to be kept closed on the day of the election.
Gergely Gulyas, a lawmaker of ruling Fidesz, said that Hungary’s current election rules included more guarantees than previously for the “uninfluenced, impartial and fair” administration of the election.
Gulyas insisted that the possible penalties would deter anyone from changing their permanent address to cast their ballot in a different constituency. Nor does recent data indicate that voters would resort to such practices.
The “accusations from the Left” lack any basis, Gulyas added.
Think-tank Szazadveg said in Thursday that the official statistics available do not support the claim that registrations for permanent addresses have grown due to the election.
Publicly posted data of the public administration and electronic public administration centre (KEKKH) at www.nyilvantarto.hu show that changes in address have fallen by 40 percent on average in the quarter preceding the election compared with the same period a year before.
Photo: mszp.hu
Fidesz win certain, size of victory to shape race
Budapest, April 3 (MTI) – A Fidesz victory at Sunday’s general election is almost certain, but the size of the ruling party’s victory, radical nationalist Jobbik’s gains and LMP’s ability to gain entry to parliament will remain open questions, the pollster Median said on Thursday, citing fresh data from a poll.
Fidesz led with 36 percent against the leftist opposition alliance’s 18 percent on the whole sample. Fidesz trailed the left 47 to 23 percent among voters with clear party preferences, Median said.
Jobbik had 15 percent support in the whole sample and 21 percent among decided voters. LMP had 3 percent support, below the 5 percent threshold of entry to parliament.
The percentage of people promising to turn out for the ballot rose to 62 percent. Voter turnout at elections in 2006 and 2010 was 56 and 59 percent, respectively.
Fully 5 percent of respondents indicated they would vote for one of the parties which had recently emerged in the election race.
The poll was taken on March 21-25 on a sample of 1,200.
Photo: MTI
Electoral Campaign Overview
According to a recent survey published on 26 March 2014 by TARKI, 38% of the total population supports the FIDESZ-KDNP coalition, 16% would vote for the centre-left alliance, 15% for Jobbik and 4% for LMP.
FIDESZ
The Prime Minister presented the views of the governing parties recently at the campaign rally of 29 March. According to Fidesz.hu, he talked about past achievements in detail and underscored that now we should prove that these achievements were not temporary but in fact meant the beginning of a new era. The speech can be summed up in three words: ‘Four more years’.
Strictly speaking, it was not a campaign event, but he said more about plans for the future in the speech of 19 March 2014 at the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Economic Season Opener. You can read the whole speech in English if you follow this link:
http://www.miniszterelnok.hu/in_english_article/the_development_of_the_new_economic_structure_must_be_continued
The centre-left political alliance
The centre-left political alliance of MSZP, E14 (Together 2014), DK (Democratic Coalition), PM (Dialogue for Hungary) and MLP (Hungarian Liberal Party) has been renamed recently to ‘Change of Government’ (Kormányváltás). The programme of the alliance was published on Attila Mesterházy’s facebook page (and also on the website of MSZP) after his speech in Szombathely. They have eight programme points: they want to create new jobs, increase the minimum wage, support micro-enterprises, reduce food prices, to achieve ‘sustainable and fair overhead cost reduction’ (rezsicsökkentés), support pensioners with extra money to cover the costs of medicine, eliminate long waiting lists and to end child hunger in the country. (Please note that the individual parties have the programme of their own available in Hungarian on their websites. These eight programme points belong to the alliance.)
Jobbik
Jobbik published its programme on 15 February 2014 on their website. Their programme has three pillars: ‘livelihood, order and accountability’ (author’s translation). It starts with ‘The Seven Chiefs Plan’ (A hét vezér terv). It presents seven projects for creating jobs in Hungary which is the most important goal of the programme. It continues with ‘The 60 Steps Programme’ (A 60 lépés program) that discusses six major problems that must be dealt with first. These problems include ‘land protection, the foreign currency crisis, depopulation, sustainable overhead cost reduction, public debt’ and Hungarian and Roma communities living next to each other (author’s translation). In the end, they also present their sector programmes.
LMP
The LMP programme consists of ten chapters which offer solutions guided by the principles of Ecopolitics, that is, ‘sustainability, social justice and “real” democracy’ (author’s translation). They argue for an eco-social market economy, gender equality and express their views on Rural, Tax, Education, Environmental, Energy, Transport and National Policies, with Ecopolitics in mind.
written by Magdolna Magonyi
Photo: MTI
Election 2014 – Fidesz Should Do At Least As Well As In 2010, Says Orban
Budapest, April 2 (MTI) – Fidesz should do at least as well in the election as four years ago, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at a campaign event in Mezokovesd, northern Hungary, on Wednesday.
He said the past four years has achieved cuts in household bills, and people for the first time started the year without news of price rises only. The governments of the previous eight years however raised prices of utilities fifteen times, Orban said. He added that tax benefits for families were very important as well as the introduction of extra benefits for young months. The current government had raised the value of pensions, too, he added.
The leftist opposition always cries foul at elections when Fidesz is winning and claims “the end of democracy”, Orban said. He also referred to “our young opponents on the right” who have never governed before, and said the message was that they should first prove themselves.
Orban said Hungary’s membership in the European Union — which some suggest the country should give up — is not a matter of a love affair but of well-considered interests.
“It is not worth it to be left out of handling affairs there, one must fight,” he said.
Photo: MTI
Election 2014 – Opposition Suspects Vote Rigging In Swing Districts
Budapest, April 2 (MTI) – The left-of-centre Unity alliance suspects potential vote rigging, insisting that the number of voters in swing constituencies has grown in the past two months.
Gergely Karacsony, a Dialogue for Hungary (PM) politician, told a news conference today that whereas the number of people with the right to vote had declined by 40,000 overall over the past two months, the number of “tourist voters” — namely people registered at a new address close to the election — had swelled in 12 voting districts where the outcome is up for grabs. These swing constituencies are mainly in Budapest, he added.
Socialist lawmaker Gergely Barandy told the same news conference that it was likely that ruling party Fidesz had organised the transfers. He said the governing party was luring innocent people into an illegal action, since registering at a fictional address is forgery of official documents.
Asked to give proof that Fidesz is behind the alleged “transfers,” Karacsony said the legislation that “enables” fraud had been drafted and passed by the current government majority that had also appointed the heads of government offices.
As another example, Karacsony mentioned that over 100 people had registered as an official address an average-sized house in Tornyospalca, a village near Hungary’s eastern borders.
The constituencies in questions, in addition, are those that “Fidesz would most likely be unable to win in a fair vote,” he added.
Karacsony said they will dispatch their activists to monitor at each government office issuing personal documents how many voters take over an address card on the actual day of the ballot, on April 6.
Speaking on behalf of the left-alliance, the leader of the Hungarian Liberal Party (MLP), called the presence of OSCE monitors at the April 6 ballot important. Gabor Fodor told a press conference that they would inform the OSCE monitors about each and every “suspicious case.”
Fidesz, in response, said that the party would initiate a lawsuit against Gergely Karacsony for violation of personal rights and would also file a complaint with bodies overseeing the election. “The left is now in such great despair that they hurry to explain their defeat in advance and they are making unfounded accusations,” Fidesz said in a release.
There will be a free, fair and democratic election in Hungary on April 6, governed by the most transparent rules since the transition to democracy, the party said.
Photo: parbeszedmagyarorszagert.hu
Mesterhazy, Gyurcsany knew about Simon’s illicit funds?
Budapest, April 2 (MTI) – Both the former and current leaders of the opposition Socialist Party knew about the illicit funds of the party’s disgraced former deputy chairman, Gabor Simon, Magyar Nemzet daily said today.
Simon is now being kept in preliminary detention. The paper cited a report by a prison informer who was placed in the same cell as Simon as saying that the former Socialist politician confessed that Attila Mesterhazy and Ferenc Gyurcsany had known about his undeclared assets.
The paper also cited documents seized by detectives showing that money in Simon’s foreign and Hungarian bank accounts had originated from a property transaction in Budapest’s 18th district, which Simon ran earlier in the first decade.
Several other transactions involving Simon are listed by the paper, including a land deal with French hypermarket chain Auchan.
Detectives discovered documents relating to later deals which had the signatures of either Simon or Mesterhazy, the paper said.
Without citing it sources, Magyar Nemzet said it had information that Tamas Welsz, an entrepreneur who recently died in a police car on his way to the prosecutor’s office, had been asked by Simon to help him legalise his assets.
Meanwhile, Simon’s lawyer has rejected a report that the former politician had had in his possession a passport from Bissau-Guinea. Speaking to Nepszava daily, Istvan Nagy also denied that Simon had had any dealings with MagNet Bank. He said Simon had not opened a bank account there using the alleged passport and had not deposited 75 million forints worth of euros as claimed in reports, which he described as “provocations”.
Ruling party Fidesz repeated its call for Mesterhazy to reveal what he knew about Simon’s hidden funds and when.
Gordon Bajnai, leader of the opposition E-PM alliance, said the paper’s allegations were not fact but, at the most, something that Simon may have said in his detention cell. He said the idea that it was possible to trust in an impartial procedure and in the discretion of the prosecutor and police had utterly collapsed.
Dora Duro, spokeswoman of the radical nationalist Jobbik, said that the Socialist Party was “up to the ears” in the Simon case and called it a lie that Socialist leaders had no idea how Simon had accumulated the funds on his undeclared account. The Socialist Party and its “associated” organisations are “not only incapable but also unworthy of leading the country,” Duro insisted.
Photo: MTI
Election 2014 – MSZP: Fidesz runs government for the rich
Budapest, April 1 (MTI) – Prime Minister Viktor Orban runs a government for the rich, Attila Mesterhazy, the candidate for prime minister of the left-of-centre opposition Unity alliance told locals in the capital’s 20th district on Tuesday.
Mesterhazy, speaking in front of around 500 people, said that under the Socialist-run government, 470,000 families had received compensation for their gas bills. Since this subsidy had been scrapped by the Fidesz government, these families paid now paid more for their gas, even after the three cuts to household utility bills instituted by the current government.
He promised that if the Socialists are elected, they would make the scheme to cut household bills fairer. Poor people would get more subsidies while the rich would not receive anything, he said.
He said the Fidesz government’s flat income tax and the scheme to pay off mortgages denominated in foreign currency early favoured the well-off, while the government did not want to help people who were really suffering due to their debts.
Photo: MTI
Jobbik would hold politicians accountable in government
Budapest, April 1 (MTI) – The radical nationalist Jobbik party said it would start its first day in government, if elected, by implementing six measures, among them holding politicians of the past to account.
Gabor Vona, the party’s leader, told a press conference on Tuesday that Jobbik would eliminate lawmakers’ immunity rights, double fines for lawmakers who commit a crime, making the names of communist-era informants and other secret files public, make it compulsory for lawmakers to declare their citizenship and make wealth declarations for lawmakers and their family members compulsory.
Vona said he was optimistic about the outcome of Sunday’s election, as they had already put the left behind and now there is still time to close the gap with Fidesz.
Photo: MTI
Election 2014 – Many Posted Votes Invalid, Says Head Of Election Office
Budapest, March 31 (MTI) – Many of the votes received for the general election by mail so far are invalid, the head of the National Election Office (NVI) said today.
The office began to process the envelopes received from voters who are eligible to vote by mail on Monday, Ilona Palffy said.
Many of the forms serving the purpose of identification were not filled in properly or voters forgot to separate their ID forms from their voting sheets [these have to be put in separate envelopes], Palffy said.
More than 11,000 votes were received by post by Monday, as well as some 10,000 votes forwarded from foreign representations in Miercurea Ciuc (Csikszereda), Cluj (Kolozsvar) in Romania and Subotica (Szabadka) in Serbia.
Hungarian citizens with no permanent residence in Hungary can vote by mail in the April 6 general election. Around 200,000 Hungarians registered to vote by mail by the deadline of March 22. Votes by mail must be received by April 6.
Photo: MTI
Election 2014 – More than 26,600 Hungarians register to vote at embassies, consulates
(MTI) – The number of Hungarians abroad registered to vote at embassies and consulates in the April 6 general election reached 26,643 by the registration deadline at 4pm on Saturday, data from the National Election Office (NVI) show.
The NVI database still does not include registrations made on Friday and Saturday, thus the overall number is expected to rise.
The number of Hungarians who intend to vote in the Hungarian general election in London reached 4,996 by late Saturday. The number in Munich came to 2,922 and the number in Bern was 1,308.
Registered Hungarians may vote at Hungary’s 97 embassies and consulates next weekend.
Election 2014 – Left alliance supporters demonstrate in Budapest
Budapest, March 30 (MTI) – About 80,000 people gathered for a demonstration by the left alliance of five parties in front of the Opera House in Budapest today, the organisers said.
Hungarian freedom and Hungarian democracy are still alive, Ferenc Gyurcsany, who heads the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK), said at the demonstration. “Hungarian freedom is not for sale. We won’t give it to the prime minister, we won’t give it to his party, because we owe it to ourselves, to our children and to our grandchildren,” the former prime minister said. “We will send Orban to where he belongs, to the dustbin of history and politics,” Gyurcsany said. Gyurcsany told his supporters that they were Hungarians who understand that the country’s 1,000 years of struggle are about moving toward the west, not the east.
“Let Orban go east, if he wants, we will go west.”
Also addressing the demonstration, Gabor Fodor, the leader of the Liberal Party, said that the general election on April 6 would be an opportunity to choose “between the east and the west, between Moscow and Brussels, and between captivity and freedom”. The ruling Fidesz party has sided with those limiting freedom and wants to make Hungarians servants; Fidesz hates freedom and competition, Fodor said. “They want to take away our freedom, but we won’t allow that,” he said, adding that the left alliance wants press freedom and a close alliance with Europe. He said that those people who gathered for the Fidesz rally on Saturday at Heroes’ Square are part of the Hungarian nation.
“But in order for us to extend to them a hand, we must first defeat them.”
Timea Szabo, the co-chair of the E14-PM electoral alliance, said that there was no chance of representing vulnerable Hungarians and members of the next generations “as long as Hungary is ruled by Viktor Orban.” She said their allies were not Russian President Putin, but those Hungarians who want change.
“Viktor Orban must be stopped, because if he continues to rule for another four years, Hungary will become a Russian colony once and for all.”
Gordon Bajnai, who heads the E14-PM electoral alliance, said anybody who stayed at home on April 6 or would not vote for the left alliance, would really cast a vote for Viktor Orban. The election results depend on those people who did not come to the opposition demonstration, he said. In spite of the turpitude of the regime, there is still a foothold in the country where there is a republic, where Orban must fear you and not you him: the voting booth, Bajnai said. “Whoever doesn’t want to fear for another four years, overcome your fear for an hour, go out and vote for a change of government,” he told the demonstrators. Only the alliance’s joint list and candidates can “dismantle” the government’s super-majority, he added.
Attila Mesterhazy, Socialist leader and the alliance’s candidate for prime minister, promised the demonstrators genuine workplaces, honest wages, an economic policy that supports growth and just social policy. He said that while Fidesz wants a new party-state, the left wants a republic, a modern European Hungary. He said the Orban government had brought impoverishment, emigration and fear, building on the country’s worst traditions. He called the government “Horthyist” in terms of ideology, “feudalist” in approach and “Bolshevik” in view of their exercise of power.
In a statement released after the demonstration, governing Fidesz said the “desperate accusations of hopeless politicians” had been heard at the event. The party added that nobody from the “Gyurcsany coalition” had yet answered the question of where Gabor Simon’s hundreds of millions of forints had come from, referring to foreign accounts belonging to the disgraced former Socialist deputy chairman.
A spokeswoman for radical nationalist Jobbik said the demonstration showed the left alliance has no programme and only hate cements the group. Dora Duro said fresh reports of more foreign bank accounts belonging to Gabor Simon were proof of the Socialists’ crime syndicate.
Photo: MTI
Election 2014 – Pro-govt Peace March held in capital
Budapest, March 29 (MTI) – The pro-government Peace March, organised by the Civil Union Forum (COF), started from Alkotmany Street, in front of the parliament building, early in the afternoon today.
The march was headed by COF founder Laszlo Csizmadia, businessman Gabor Szeles, editor-in-chief of newspaper Demokrata Andras Bencsik and political scientist Tamas Fricz.
MTI’s on-site correspondents said the crowd completely filled Alkotmany Street, even as many participants stood in Kossuth Square, in front of the parliament building.
Before starting, the marchers sang the Hungarian national anthem and the Szekler anthem, waving Hungarian flags, Szekler flags and banners of COF and governing Fidesz. The march, held a week before the national election on April 6, will wind up at Heroes’ Square later in the afternoon. The marchers carried placards with the names of the cities and towns they came from as well as messages such as “We are convinced a nation can be built only with moral integrity” and “Peace March for Hungary”.
Szeles said, while marching, that 400 buses had arrived from communities outside of Budapest to participate in the march this time around. He estimated the total number of participants would reach one million.
When the marchers reached Arany Janos Street — almost one-third of the length of the route — the organisers said the last marchers were still leaving Kossuth Square.
Istvan Stefka, editor-in-chief of daily Magyar Hirlap, said this Peace March was just as important as the first, organised in January 2012, when “our independence” was in danger. He called today’s march the “waiting room for next weekend’s election”.
Bencsik said Hungary was not a divided nation, as evidenced by the Peace March, whose participants he called “real heroes”.
The marchers were met by protesters holding flags with images of Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin — likely a reference to Hungary’s agreement to upgrade its sole nuclear power plant, in Paks, with the participation of Russia — along the route. Activists from opposition LMP offered the marchers green apples, but were rejected with whistles. There were no serious incidents during the march.
The interior ministry estimated that 440,000-460,000 people participated in the march. Tamas Csizmadia, the ministry’s press chief, said a more precise estimate could not be given because relatively accurate numbers can come only from open spaces, not from smaller streets.
The left-of-centre alliance of five parties said Orban’s speech at the rally on Saturday was “arrogant, inflammatory and a lie”. Viktor Orban knows the majority of the country wants change and a change of government, and he knows that he can lose the election, the alliance said.
The alliance said in a joint statement that Orban had promised one million jobs, but just a few had been created in the private sector. He spoke about modernising the country, while taking hundreds of billions out of the health-care system and education. And he talked about equitably sharing the public burden, while introducing 40 new taxes, the alliance said, adding that eight of ten Hungarians are worse off with the flat-rate tax system.
Photo: MTI
Hungarian party campaigns with the panda logo, WWF hits the roof
WWF is planning legal actions because Új Magyarország Párt (ÚMP) uses the conservation civil organization’s panda logo in their campaign. The party has used the trademark in a homophobic Facebook post as well, hvg.hu reports.
“Using the WWF’s panda logo by ÚMP in their campaign endangers the civil organization’s universally positive judgment” claimed WFF, and added that their Hungarian management was shocked to be informed about the unauthorized application of the trademark.
According to WWF’s information the ÚMP used the panda in their Facebook page and on placards primarily in Szombathely so far. “Hence we’re going to take legal steps against the unlawful, political application of the WWF logo, preventing further infringements” – as Fáth Ákos, the organization’s Hungarian manager said in the WWF’s announcement.
The logo is legally protected worldwide, its application is only the organization’s right, as WWF states.
ÚMP wrote the following in their post with the panda: “Hungarian, employed, heterosexual – doomed to extinction? No! Új Magyarország Párt”. The party has advertised itself on Facebook with another panda too, but it is not similar to the WWF’s logo.
WWF announced that they most emphatically distance themselves from any political campaign message, political party, or political movement. Over and above – as an open-minded, cooperative and multicolored conservation civil organization – they most emphatically distance themselves from any racist, homophobic, biased, exclusionary attitude or propaganda too.
“Not only we find unlawful and outrageous that anyone applies an emblem of an organization fighting for the conservation of nature to propagate extremist, exclusionary ideologies, but the unethical application of our trademark damages the WWF’s universally positive judgment and our reputation as well.” – said Fáth Ákos.
“It is particularly crucial to a civil organization which supports itself from donations, and means an unequivocal danger to our operation.” – he added.
Hvg.hu says that the goal of ÚMP, which was established in 2013, is “to hold a mirror to the present-day public figures”. Its program is summarized in three points on their website: do not litter, do not waste, and always ask for a receipt. Since they have set 50 individual candidates in Budapest and 16 county, they now have a national list.
ÚMP was associated to Zuschlag János in the press as well. However, Racker Béla, the party’s communications manager said in Kossuth Radio in the middle of March that “Zuschlag doesn’t participate in the party’s activity, though a member of the party consulted with him about the foundation of the party previously”.
based on article of hvg.hu
by Zsófia Luca Szemes
Photo: Facebook
Election 2014 – Socialist leader declares he has exclusively Hungarian citizenship
(MTI) – Socialist Party leader Attila Mesterhazy declared on Thursday that he does not possess any passports other than his Hungarian one, in response to an initiative for all lawmakers to state whether they were citizens of any other country.
Speaking in the eastern Hungarian city of Debrecen at a news conference held with fellow left-of-centre campaigner, Gordon Bajnai, the Unity alliance’s candidate for prime minister said that they awaited the ruling Fidesz party’s response to the radical nationalist Jobbik’s initiative.
Mesterhazy said even were Fidesz not to respond, the entire Socialist parliamentary group would be happy to declare their citizenship. “Dual citizenship in itself does not pose a problem”, he said.
“I am a Hungarian citizen and I only have a Hungarian passport,” he said.
The Jobbik initiative came after it emerged that the disgraced former Socialist deputy chairman, Gabor Simon, had a false African passport.
Mesterhazy called unemployment and poverty as Hungary’s biggest problems.
At the press conference, Bajnai lambasted the government for what he saw as increasing Hungary’s dependence on Russian energy supplies.
At a rally after the presser, Bajnai called it crucial that young Hungarians working in other countries should return to Hungary.
Bajnai said that if the leftist parties should win the upcoming election, the next government would work to ensure “peace, calm, and reconciliation” for the country.
Photo: MTI
Jobbik only credible alternative to ruling parties, says Vona
Budapest, March 27 (MTI) – Hungary’s radical nationalist Jobbik is the only credible alternative to the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democratic alliance, Jobbik leader Gabor Vona told a press conference today.
Referring to public opinion polls showing a “continuous increase” in voter support for Jobbik, Vona said that its support was now on a par with the left-wing parties.
The ruling parties are backed by “enormous resources” he warned, calling on supporters to mobilise potential voters in the ten days left before the general election.
Vona said “the Socialists rely on people’s forgetfulness and Fidesz on their gullibility.” Jobbik, however, offers “honesty, reason, and a positive future”.
In Tarki’s latest poll, the five-party left-of-centre opposition alliance had the support of 21 percent of voters with a clear party preference, as against 20 percent for Jobbik.
Photo: MTI