PM Orbán: “the left cried dictatorship” and “exploited the fear of millions”
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in a keynote speech on Saturday kicking off the official election period in Hungary, warned his supporters that former prime ministers Ferenc Gyurcsány and Gordon Bajnai were planning a comeback.
In his speech held at the Várkert Bazaar in Budapest, Orbán cited Gyurcsány as saying recently that both politicians were ready to return, and he accused Gyurcsány and Bajnai of “lumbering the whole country” with their “talk show”.
If Gyurcsány made a comeback, he said, “he’ll take us back to where we were before…”
Orbán said not only had the virus “attacked Hungary”, but so had the left wing in its hope of overthrowing the government.
He accused the left of demanding the lifting of lockdowns when it was appropriate to maintain them and of insisting on locking down when it was right to lift restrictions.
Orbán said the left cried “dictatorship”, conducted a campaign damning the government abroad, distributed fake videos, and spread horror stories.
He said exploiting the fear of millions of families in the hope of overthrowing the government during a deadly pandemic was “indefensible” and “grossly irresponsible”.
The prime minister said the left would have to face up to their actions on April 3.
The government, he said, had remained united and composed during the pandemic, and not for a single moment had the country’s capacities been endangered. In other words, the new constitutional order enacted in 2011, Orbán added, had stood the test.
The prime minister told supporters that “we have one thing in common: we share a passion for Hungary.”
He accused the left wing of adopting “a new political strategy” which involved “insulting people, making fun of people with disabilities, marching into the countryside and threatening pensioners and looking down on women”.
“People can’t believe their ears,” he said.
“De Gaulle may have been right: everyone can talk, but the leader also knows when to listen,” the prime minister said.
Orbán said the “greatest achievement” was that the Hungarian economy had withstood the crisis.
He noted tax relief for workers below the age of 25, tax refunds for families and the restoration of the 13-month pension.
“We are giving back what the Gyurcsány-Bajnai government took away.”
The prime minister also noted the 20 percent increase in the minimum wage this year and a 4 percent cut in taxes on labour.
Orbán referred to a “great national agreement” that brought the unions, employers, government and parliament under one roof. “Except, of course, the left, which didn’t vote for anything.”
Meanwhile, the prime minister announced the extension of the cap on prices for fuel at the pump by three months.
Orbán said that despite the pandemic, not since the change in 1990 political system had so many people had a job in Hungary, and now a million more people worked than during the Gyurcsány government.
He said Hungary’s exports had grown by a record 119 billion euros last year. In 2010, he noted, the government set out to draw key sectors under Hungarian control, reducing foreign ownership of banks, the media and energy companies to below 50 percent.
Read alsoArmed forces chief: Hungarian army ready to protect country
How does the official election campaign period in Hungary work?
The election campaign for Hungary’s April 3 general election and national referendum on the child protection law held simultaneously started officially on Saturday.
Under Hungary’s election law, the election campaign officially start fifty days before the date of the ballot, and runs until the close of the polls at 7pm.
Under the law, voters can cast two ballots in the single-round election which decides 199 seats. One directly elects lawmakers in 106 individual constituencies, while the other is cast for a party list.
Prospective candidates must secure 500 signatures by 4pm on Feb. 25 to run in an individual constituency. Candidates must collect 500 valid recommendation slips to run, and they must be registered by the individual constituency’s election committee.
The election procedures law prohibits placing an election poster on protected monuments, nature conservation sites or the facades of state and local government buildings or within their compounds.
Political advertisements can be published by print media outlets that registered with the State Audit Office by Jan. 18. Television and radio outlets are required to publish political advertisements free of charge under uniform criteria. Commercial channels must notify the National Election Committee about including political advertising in their programming by 4pm on Saturday. On the day of the ballot they are prohibited from airing political adverts.
During the election campaign, organisers are not required to notify police about an election rally in advance. They are, however, required to obtain a written permit from the relevant local government office or relevant authorities for the use of public areas.
Meanwhile, the National Election Office (NVI) said on Saturday that voters in this year’s election can register online at valasztas.hu and magyarorszag.hu to verify that their signature has been listed in support of an individual candidate. The measure is aimed at enhancing transparency by allowing voters to report any suspected misuse or fraud, NVI said.
Read alsoTrump invited to Hungary to help Orbán’s election campaign!
Hungary became the centre of petrol tourism, price cap to stay?
Due to the more favourable fuel prices created because of the price cap, more and more people from Slovakia are refuelling in Hungary, writes Új Szó, a Hungarian-language daily newspaper in Slovakia. According to the article, fuel prices in Slovakia have risen dramatically recently.
Prices much cheaper in Hungary than in Slovakia
The average price of a litre of Diesel has been around €1.43 in recent days, compared to €1.53 for 95 petrol. However, this is only the average, so the price of 95 petrol at the stations of larger petrol station networks, for example, is 1.55 euros. In Hungary, on the other hand, the price cap for 95 petrol was set at HUF 480 per litre, which roughly corresponds to 1.36 euros, says 444.hu. Thus, refuelling in Hungary can save up to 15-20 euros.
The price cap will stay until February 15, still unknown what comes after
With parliamentary elections taking place in Hungary in April this year, many say the government is likely to extend the petrol price cap, risking too much if it did not do so because prices would increase in Hungary right away. With the end of the price cap, the price of petrol in Hungary could reach 520, even around 530 forints (EUR 1.5).
For now, it is worth taking petrol to Slovakia
However, according to Új Szó, many are not satisfied by simply filling up their car’s tank. In recent days, more and more people have come to Hungary with a trailer fitted after their car, procuring several barrels of fuel at a time.
Spokeswoman Martina Rybanská warned that up to 10 litres of fuel could be imported into Slovakia duty-free from another EU country.
Anyone wishing to enter a larger quantity must file a tax return
According to her, it is not worth cheating because, if the person cannot prove with at least one receipt where they got the fuel outside the fuel tank from, they can expect a penalty of between 100 euros and 100 thousand euros, depending on the amount of fuel taken, of course. And those who fail to file a tax return will be fined between €30 and €16,000 by the customs office.
Read also: Fuel prices to skyrocket if the government abolishes price cap in February
New York Young Republicans’ Club supports Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán
Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán and Fidesz are supported by young Republicans in New York in this year’s parliamentary elections in Hungary. In their official letter, Orban is called the “defender of Western civilisation and family rights”. A German newspaper reported on the possibility of Katalin Novák becoming Hungary’s first female president.
New York Young Republicans’ Club: Vote for Orbán!
The New York Young Republicans’ Club recently announced that they support Viktor Orbán in the 2022 Hungarian parliamentary elections. This is the club’s first official letter of support like this, writes telex.hu.
They consider Hungary’s current Prime Minister a defender of Western civilisation and family rights.
“The New York Young Republicans’ Club is urging everyone in Hungary to help protect Western civilisation by re-electing Viktor Orbán as Prime Minister of Hungary,” they write.
Earlier, former US President Donald Trump also assured Orbán of his support. One of the biggest sponsors is Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson. The presenter visited Hungary, reported and made a documentary here. Carlson recently interviewed Foreign Secretary Péter Szijjártó.
Will Katalin Novák be the first female President?
German magazine Cicero believes that Katalin Novák could be the first female President of Hungary, writes origo.hu.
Read also: NATO allied troops to arrive in Hungary?
“44 years old, friendly, approachable, laughs many times and has been to many places in the world,”
writes the paper about Novák. In addition, it is written that Novák’s nomination for the presidency of the republic indicated that the time had come for women in leading positions in conservative Hungary as well. Novák is a knight of the French Order of Honour. She began her political career at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“There is hardly another country that provides as much public support as Hungary to compensate for the continuing population decline by consistently supporting families,” the German newspaper writes. Novák also speaks French, English, Spanish, and German.
Read alsoUSA visa issue: Some non-Hungarian-born citizens face difficulties
Hungary Election 2022: OSCE delegation meets heads of election office, committee
Attila Nagy, head of the national election office NVI and András Téglási, head of the national election committee NVB, met election observers of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, on Tuesday, NVI said.
A four-member delegation of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) was led by Head of the Election Department Meaghan Fitzgerald, the NVI told MTI.
The OSCE delegation is paying a visit to Hungary between January 17-21 to gather information in connection with the preparation for the country’s general election in the spring.
They are scheduled to meet representatives of several organisations, parliament and the government, NVI said in a statement.
Based on Tuesday’s talks, the NVI and NVB heads expressed their trust that high-level professional cooperation will be maintained between the sides and the OSCE/ODIHIR will send observers to Hungary for the April election, NVI said.
Nagy said he had assured the OSCE of NVI’s dedication to cooperation and added that it was important that the observers should carry out their tasks in an objective fashion, the statement said. Teglasi expressed hope that their cooperation will be constructive, it added.
The OSCE delegation also met top officials of Hungary’s public media provider MTVA, MTVA’s press office said on Tuesday evening.
Dániel Papp, MTVA’s chief executive, and Menyhért Dobos, chief executive of public service media operator Duna Médiaszolgáltató, gave the OSCE delegation an outline of the Hungarian public media system and its operation. They underscored in connection with the upcoming general election the guarantees for balance and impartiality as defined in the country’s media law and code of public service.
Read alsoBreaking news: Hungarian President sets date of 2022 general election
Hungary’s 2022 general election: Here are the main election rules and dates
President János Áder has set April 3 as the date of Hungary’s 2022 general election.
The election campaign officially starts 50 days before the date of the ballot — on February 12 this time round.
Hungary’s 7.8 million voters will have the opportunity to cast two ballots in the single-round election deciding 199 seats.
One ballot directly elects lawmakers in 106 individual constituencies.
A formula is used to allocate the remaining seats based on votes cast for a party list.
Prospective candidates must secure 500 signatures by February 25 to run in an individual constituency.
A party may draw up a national list if they have at least an individual candidate in 71 constituencies in at least fourteen counties and Budapest. Parties must submit their national lists to the National Election Committee (NVB) by February 26.
Hungarian voters with an address in Hungary who reside abroad must go to an embassy or consulate to cast their ballots on the day of the election. Beforehand they must register with a local notary by March 25.
Those 420,000 Hungarians who do not have an address in Hungary but registered to vote by mail prior to or after the previous, 2018 ballot will not be required to register again.
Non-Hungarian residents who have Hungarian citizenship will also have the right to vote. They must register with the National Election Office (NVI) by March 9.
Voters who register themselves as a member of a national minority will cast their ballot for the list of the respective minority rather than for national parties. A national minority may field candidates on a list with the recommendation of at least one percent of their national minority voters.
Under the law,
Hungary’s new parliament must be formed by May 3 at the latest.
Breaking news: Hungarian President sets date of 2022 general election
President János Áder has set April 3 as the date of Hungary’s 2022 general election.
In a statement released by the Office of the President of the Republic, Áder said (the statement in full):
“Thirty-two years ago, as a result of the first free elections, Hungary became an independent, democratic country. I express my thanks to all who played a role in rebuilding the nation.
“This year, for the ninth time, Hungarian citizens with voting rights will be free to decide whom they will entrust with the management of our common affairs.
“Hungary’s Fundamental Law and the Electoral Procedure Act contain clear provisions on the date by which the President of the Republic may set a general election of the members of parliament.
“Based on this statutory mandate, I have set the date of the general election of members of parliament for April 3, 2022, the earliest possible date.”
- read more news about 2022 Hungarian parliamentary election
Read alsoFidesz nominates Novák for Hungary’s next president – UPDATE
Guardian interview: Márki-Zay’s plan to beat Orbán
A extensive article about the Hungarian opposition PM candidate Péter Márki-Zay has been published in the Guardian. It touched on the upcoming elections scheduled for April 2022 as well as the politician’s plans to beat Orbán.
The article briefly recalls how the political history of Hungary has developed since Orbán came to power, and also points out that the action of a united opposition may be the biggest challenge for the current PM so far since his 2010 election. Róbert László, an analyst at Political Capital, told the newspaper that no one had previously expected a right-wing player to eventually lead the center-left opposition, and one of Márki-Zay’s superpowers might be that he could not be identified as a left-wing character, according to 444.hu.
Read more: Here is the final result: Márki-Zay wins opposition primary
According to László, Márki-Zay’s candidacy also confused the propaganda machine of Fidesz (Orbán’s party), as he is not a liberal intellectual, but rather looks like a member of Fidesz (someone who joined the older more conservative generation). The article highlights that although Márki-Zay was never a party member, he did vote for Fidesz until 2010. As the candidate told the newspaper, Fidesz’s populism and the way they turned more and more corrupt and betrayed Western values became outrageous after a while. “Orbán has changed, not me,” said Mark-Zay.
The article also points out that when talking to journalists, Márki-Zay always tries to separate his own moderated conservative faith from that of Orbán, who speaks of defending the Christian culture of Hungary and Europe. As he asserts:
“I was a Christian long before Orbán. Orbán was still in full swing in the KISZ (Communist Youth Association) when I went to church every Sunday even during the communist era. ”
The article also mentions Márki-Zay’s work experience in the United States and Canada, as well as the fact that he became known in Hungarian politics following his victory in the local 2018 elections in Hódmezővásárhely, an important previously Fidesz-controlled town.
Dániel Hegedűs, an analyst at the German Marshall Fund, told the paper that there was a prospect of a close election and that the situation of the opposition was aggravated by the fact that Fidesz had transformed the constituencies to take advantage. For this reason, the united opposition will need at least 3-5 per cent more votes to reach majority in the parliament as well. This is a significant difference that is not yet visible in the opinion polls, according to Hegedűs .
The political competition will not take place on an equal footing, but will further slope towards Orbán, the analyst told the newspaper, saying the integrity of the election is expected to be even worse than it was in 2014 or 2018. Therefore, he says, a free but not fair choice awaits the country.
The article concludes that in the meantime, Márki-Zay must move along a thin line that can address the disillusioned Fidesz voters but at the same time, it will not stagger the city’s liberal-left voters-base.
If you want to learn more about the political scene prior to the 2018 elections, click here.
The original Guardian article can be found here.
Hungarian opposition turns to top court over changes to residency regulations
Seven opposition parties on Thursday turned to the Constitutional Court, saying that changes to Hungarian regulations over the declaration of residence “legalised voter fraud”.
In a joint statement, the Democratic Coalition (DK), Jobbik, LMP, the Everyone’s Hungary Movement (Mindenki Magyarországa Mozgalom), the Momentum Movement, the Socialists and Párbeszéd parties said that ahead of the 2018 elections, “masses of Hungarian citizens from across the borders had declared derelict buildings as their residence in Hungary to be able to vote.”
Recently accepted legislation “legalises voter fraud and opens the gateways to manipulating the results of the election,” the statement said.
After an initiative of the opposition, probes by the police and the Kuria, Hungary’s supreme court, found that such acts had been committed during the previous elections and were declared to be in violation of the law, the statement said.
So far, declaring a place of residence without living at the address was a criminal act under Hungarian law. Parliament decriminalised such declarations in an amendment in November, if the person making the declaration owned the property in question or made the declaration in agreement with its owner.
Henceforth, a place of residence is regarded as a contact address only, and living there will no longer be a precondition for casting a vote.
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Kingdom of Morocco had held triple elections in best conditions
The Kingdom of Morocco had held triple elections on Wednesday 8 September 2021 in best conditions, despite the exceptional situation, marked mainly by the challenges related to the current COVID19 pandemic.
The triple elections (legislative, regional, local), conducted in single day, confirmed the choice of the Kingdom of Morocco, under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, for Democracy, the rule of law and consolidated the achievements for political pluralism accumulated by the Kingdom since its independence through regular and periodic elections.
The elections, as confirmed by international observers including the PACE, were successful, and marked by transparency. They were well organized in circumstances of serenity and calmness across the entire national territory of the Kingdom.
The Elections registered a record turnout including the Moroccan Sahara provinces. The voter turnout reached 50.18%, surpassing the figure of the 2016 elections, which did not exceed 43%.
The turnout was particularly high in the Kingdom’s southern region. The participation of citizens in the polling stations of the Kingdom’s southern provinces was strong as the turnout reached 66.94% in the region of Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra, 63,76% in the region of Guelmim-Oued Noun and 58.30% in the region of Dakhla-Oued Eddahab.
The high turnout in the Saharan provinces of the Kingdom has several meanings.
By their massive attendance to polling stations, the citizens of this Region has expressed frankly and unequivocally their attachment to Moroccan sovereignty. It’s also a manifestation of reaffirmation of their commitment to elect their representatives in the political institutions at national and local level and constitutes in the same time an expression of their satisfaction of the level of the socio-economic development policy led by the Moroccan state in the region.
Regarding the legislative elections, the citizens elected the 395 members of the House of Representatives for the third legislature under the 2011 constitution and the 10th since the independence of the Kingdom of Morocco.
According to the results of the elections, His Majesty King Mohammed VI has appointed Mr. Aziz Akhannouch, president of the” National Rally of Independents (RNI)” Party, as Head of Government and entrusted him with the formation of the new government (the government coalition).
This appointment takes place in accordance with the constitutional provisions and based on the results of the legislative elections of September 8, 2021, which the results showed the obtaining by the Party “The National Rally of Independents (RNI)” the first place with 102 seats.
The holding of these elections, within the time limits and in particular context, shows once again the Morocco’s commitment to the highest standards of democracy including the strengthening of the political representativeness of women. It also shows the culture of political and institutional stability to which both the State and the citizens are attached in the kingdom of Morocco.
Distribution of seats for the House of Representatives (395 seats) according to the Elections results:
- The National Rally of Independents (RNI): 102 seats.
- The Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM): 86 seats.
- The Istiqlal Party (PI): 81 seats.
- The Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP): 35 seats.
- The Popular Movement (MP): 29 seats.
- The Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS): 21 seats.
- The Constitutional Union (UC): 18 seats.
- The Justice and Development Party (PJD): 13 seats.
- The other political parties: 10 seats.
Survey: third of Hungarians think homosexual content changes sexual orientation
A survey carried out by Publicus Institute says that the third of Hungarians finds it possible that someone becomes homosexual after seeing LGBTQ content.
Hungary’s new “paedophile law”, aka “homosexual law”, is still an issue that resurfaces every couple of days in the media. After the passing of the bill caused outrage both in the country and on an international level, the Hungarian government decided to organise a referendum with which citizens can also express their opinion and concerns. Nevertheless, the law entered into effect, which now means that any content depicting homosexuality is banned from schools and kindergartens to protect children under the age of 18.
As DNH recently reported, the law completely divided Hungarian society. Now, a new survey carried out by the Publicus Institute by the commission of Népszava states the same.
The public survey measuring the voters’ opinion at the end of July shows that
42% of Hungarians think that LBGTQ communities lead their propaganda of sexual orientation different from the majority.
This propaganda presented in schools and kindergartens poses a real risk to children.
Almost the third of the people participating think that someone can become homosexual after being exposed to this kind of content.
Apart from the Hungarians’ perception of homosexuality, the survey also investigated how the people see Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s initiative for a referendum concerning the issue.
The survey also shows that a higher percentage of oppositional voices was aware of this referendum (90%), as opposed to 75% of pro-government voters.
55% of voters think that the referendum is genuinely about the protection of children, while
the majority (87%) of the opposition sees it otherwise, as a simple political action, part of the government’s campaign before the elections next year.
Telex.hu writes that 78% of pro-government voters but only 27% of the opposition would participate in the referendum.
After it became clear that the government would not get rid of or would not modify the new law, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony came up with his own initiative for a referendum investigating “how to protect Hungary’s future from the Orbán government’s amok”. He prepared five questions, including the new campus of the Chinese Fudan University planned to be built in Budapest, or the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and whether Hungary should join.
The question of the university is quite interesting.
Over half of those participating in the survey (58%) are rather against establishing the Chinese campus in the Hungarian capital. Even the third of Fidesz supporters are on the same page.
Read alsoGovernment decree: LGBTQ content can only be sold separate and in closed packages!
Fidesz is running the most expensive political YouTube ads in Europe
Fidesz has been running the most expensive political YouTube campaign in Europe for a month and a half. These videos, like the one entitled “Gyurcsány Show”, emphasise the connection between possible PM-candidate Gergely Karácsony and former PM Ferenc Gyurcsány.
On May 15, Gergely Karácsony, Lord Mayor of Budapest, announced that he would run in the pre-election of Prime Minister candidates. Fidesz apparently prepared for this and launched a huge communication campaign via Facebook and YouTube within a few hours, writes Telex. The videos shared on these platforms emphasised that Karácsony works for former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány.
- Breaking – Budapest mayor launches bid to challenge Orbán next year
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According to Telex, these videos uploaded to Fidesz’s channel are not set to public: users can only reach them through URL links or view them as advertisements before other videos. Thus, Telex suggests that the vast majority of the views come from the paid advertisements.
Telex has reviewed Google’s official Transparency Report, which documents political ads on the company’s interfaces. The system has been in operation since March 2019, and it has registered 2,601 political advertisements in Hungary ever since. The total cost of these advertisements was HUF 114 million.
More than half of this, HUF 65 million, was spent on the Fidesz campaign that launched a month and a half ago.
On an international scale, the most generous political advertisers on YouTube are Americans, having spent $766 million over the past two years. Trump and Biden’s presidential campaigns each amounted to 83 million dollars of this, writes Telex.
In comparison, the total EU (plus British) spending was 17.5 million euros. Hungarian spending makes up about 2 percent of it.
If we look at only the last month and a half, however, when Fidesz started its advertising campaign, we see that the “Gyurcsány Show” videos make up the top five on the list of the most expensive political YouTube ads in all of Europe.
Recently, posters of the “Gyurcsány Show” covering whole buildings also appeared in different parts of the capital, reports Mandiner. These posters depict opposition politicians, including the president of Jobbik, Péter Jakab. Jakab reacted to this, claims 444, by projecting a similar poster on the facade of the Fidesz headquarters. He, however, showed the “actors” of the “Orbán Show” – József Szájer, Viktor Orbán, Zsolt Borkai, and Gábor Kaleta, reflecting on recent scandals of the governing party’s members.
Read alsoOpposition prime ministerial candidates: Hungary’s future with EU
“Vote tourism”: Thousands of fake citizens involved in Hungarian elections
In Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, the easternmost area of Hungary, intermediaries make thousands of euros off disadvantaged, desperate people on both sides of the Hungarian-Ukrainian border.
Telex summarised the contents of a recently released documentary, made by a team of investigative journalists under the name of Partizán, about the still existing system: since Hungarian citizenship opens many doors for Ukrainians, some of them are willing to pay large sums of money for it and vote for whoever they are told to vote for.
Meanwhile, Hungarians are bribed or threatened with losing their only source of income
in order to get them to sign agreements claiming that they share their homes with dozens of strangers so that those foreigners can have a permanent address in Hungary, necessary for citizenship.
The criminals’ actions extend past the transporting of busfuls of Ukrainian-Hungarian citizens across the border to cast their votes on election day: those with dual citizenship are also entitled to receive a pension from the Hungarian government, which is often given based on counterfeit employment records.
The video begins with a drive through the region in question: a man, with a map in his hands, points out some of the locations where the new inhabitants of the village reside, on paper: the roofless remnants of a house, a clearing with trash scattered around it, and a thorny-looking thicket. We later meet a family whose postal address was used to register over 120 dual citizens as inhabitants of the village without their knowledge or consent. The then-mayor of the village simply told them to sign the document attesting that they live there. What they got as compensation: a promise that they would always have a spot in the public works program, the only employment opportunity in the vicinity. The former mayor also used the public work scheme as a threat, telling locals that they will be excluded from it unless they agree to her terms. Meanwhile, Ukrainians are said to pay as much as HUF 1.5 million (EUR 4,190) for Hungarian papers. It does not even matter if they have no connection whatsoever to Hungary, nor if they speak a word of Hungarian.
What advantage do fake citizens bring to village leaders? In addition to being able to secure their positions by rigging the elections, the money local governments receive from the state partially depends on the number of residents; therefore, the bigger the village, the larger the amount mayors can spend.
As for the pensions, there is an old regulation stating that if a dual citizen residing in Hungary renounces their right to receive a pension in Ukraine, they can apply for it to be covered by the Hungarian state, in a system that pays much more. Especially if they fake employment records, as explained in a video: a simple factory worker is turned into the director of the factory, whose pension will then be determined according to the average salaries in Hungary, resulting in an inordinately large sum.
These events do not go entirely undetected by authorities, as HVG reports, but the wheels of justice turn slowly, as even in April 2021, there were still some ongoing investigations in cases of forging official documents that occurred prior to the 2018 parliamentary elections.
Read also“Vote tourism”: Thousands of fake citizens involved in Hungarian elections
Bulgaria to hold snap election because of public anger over corruption
Bulgaria will hold a snap parliamentary election on July 11, after a third and final attempt to form a government following April 4 polls that led to a fragmented parliament failed, President Rumen Radev said on Wednesday.
Long-serving Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s centre-right GERB again emerged as the largest party after last month’s election but it lost seats amid widespread public anger over entrenched corruption in the political elite. With Borissov
short of a majority and unable to forge a new coalition,
the president had asked a new anti-elite party led by TV host Slavi Trifonov to do so but it also failed, as did the third largest party in the new parliament, the Socialists.
“Bulgaria needs a strong-willed political alternative, which the current parliament failed to produce,” Radev said after the Socialist Party returned the mandate to form a government. The stalemate left Radev, a harsh critic of Borissov’s failure to crack down on graft, with no alternative but to appoint an interim technocrat administration and call another snap election.
“Next week I will dissolve the parliament and appoint an interim government.
In this situation, the election is expected to be held on July 11,” Radev said in a live broadcast. Radev said he plans to appoint experts as interim ministers. They will face a challenging agenda of managing the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact and of ensuring a fair election in the European Union’s poorest member state.
A recent opinion poll showed Borissov’s GERB remains the most popular party,
but its key rival, Trifonov’s There Is Such a People, is a close second, raising the prospect of continued fragmentation in which the politicians will struggle to form a stable coalition government.
Radev, a largely ceremonial head of state with limited powers under Bulgaria’s post-communist constitution, appealed to the parties to find common ground and to avoid prolonged deadlock.
Biden fares better than Trump over first 100 days – poll
More than half of Americans approve of President Joe Biden after nearly 100 days on the job, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, a level of support that his Republican predecessor Donald Trump never achieved and one that should help Democrats push for infrastructure spending and other big-ticket items on Biden’s agenda.
The national opinion poll of 4,423 adults from April 12-16 found that 55% approved of Biden’s performance in office, while 40% disapproved and the rest were not sure.
Biden received the highest marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with 65% supporting his response. In January, 38% approved of Trump’s handling of the health crisis. Ninety-percent of Democrats, 61% of independents and 39% of Republicans said they approved of Biden’s response, the poll showed.
Fifty-two percent of Americans also said they liked Biden’s handling of the economy and 53% said the same about his impact on U.S. jobs, which in both cases were a few percentage points higher than Trump’s marks on jobs and the economy during his final month in office.
But Biden received his strongest criticism on immigration, as his administration continues to grapple with a surge of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border: 42% approved of the president’s border policy, while 49% disapproved.
More than half gave Biden strong marks for bipartisanship, though Democrats were much more likely than others to credit Biden for unifying the deeply divided electorate. Fifty-six percent approved of Biden’s efforts, including 88% of Democrats, 23% of Republicans and 48% of independents.
Americans were also generally supportive of Biden’s stance on the environment and racial inequality, with 54% and 51% approving of his record so far, respectively.
Biden is benefiting somewhat from circumstances that are beyond his control. He had months to prepare his pandemic response before becoming president, and some coronavirus vaccines were already in use before his Jan. 20 inauguration. Biden’s economy also has the advantage of being compared against the 2020 pandemic recession, when employers shed millions of jobs as COVID-19 shuttered businesses and schools.
Still, Biden’s approval numbers reflect popular support for his ambitious agenda, including a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package and should help him pursue other initiatives, said Julian Zelizer, a political historian at Princeton University.
Biden is now pushing for a $2 trillion infrastructure plan that many Republicans oppose, and he is expected to propose tax hikes on the wealthy to raise money for childcare and other programs for American workers.
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His popularity will help Biden keep his party together, Zelizer said, blunting malcontents on both the progressive and moderate wings of the party, and possibly tempering opposition from some Republicans, especially those in politically competitive states.
Lyna Sandau, a 75-year-old Republican from New York City, said she admires how Biden has aggressively supplied the United States with vaccines. Sandau voted for Trump last year, but if the election were held again, she would probably back Biden.
“What can I say, he seems to be trying,” she said.
BROAD SUPPORT IN SPLIT AMERICA
Republicans largely oppose Biden, with only about 20% supporting the president, but those numbers have not changed much over the past year. Biden so far has been able to counter that with near-unanimous approval among Democrats and strong support among independents.
About 90% of Democrats approve of Biden, while 8% disapprove. Among independents, 51% approve and 39% disapprove.
Most presidents enjoy at least a brief period of elevated popularity, and Trump’s favorability numbers also rose when he entered office four years ago. But they declined a few weeks later as he pushed to ban travel from Muslim countries.
Biden’s popularity, meanwhile, has grown over the past year among a broad cross-section of the American population, not only among the white college graduates who helped put him in the White House, but also among the traditionally conservative non-college whites who still dominate the electorate in many places.
According to the April poll, 61% of white college graduates and 46% of whites who did not get a degree said they have a favorable view of the president, which is up 7 points and 6 points, respectively, from a year ago.
Biden also has become more popular over the past year among racial minorities, with 68% of Hispanics expressing a favorable view of Biden, up 12 points from last April.
The latest poll also shows more Americans – 40% – think the country is headed in the right direction than at any other time in the last decade.
That is about as good as a Democrat should expect in such a hyper-partisan political environment, said Robert Shrum, a Democratic strategist and political scientist at the University of Southern California.
Republicans will likely continue to oppose Biden en masse, Shrum said. But Democrats could counter by pushing for policy initiatives that are popular among conservatives too, such as rebuilding roads and expanding internet access.
“It is very useful to have Republicans who may not give you a high job rating out in the country agree with some of or many of the steps that you want to take,” Shrum said.
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Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Is there a chance of Palestine – Israel peace?
Remarks from Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi:
Next to the ongoing pandemic and the many other crisis areas of the world, the international political discourse seems to have been less focused on Palestine lately. The reason is perhaps that the world has gotten tired of the decades-long and never-ending Palestinian issue which, though still unsolved, has not escalated much further. Nevertheless, I am convinced that any settlement of the major Middle East conflicts is inconceivable without a reconciliation that would guarantee both nations their own states. No matter how small an area the Israeli-Palestinian conflict affects, the symbolic significance reaches far beyond.
There are substantial obstacles on both sides in the way of a long-term settlement, as it is demonstrated by the issue of the Palestinian general elections scheduled for next month.
As it is known, Palestine has not been able to hold elections for fifteen years due to the recurring internal conflicts among the Palestinian political forces, while the mandate of the last elected representatives expired over a decade ago. Furthermore, the Israeli leadership, rather short-sightedly, prefers the Palestinian political crisis to remain unsolved, presumably on the assumption that it weakens the Palestinian positions.
There are several other obstacles in the way of the parliamentary elections scheduled for May and the presidential election to be held in the summer, too. The first obstacle is still posed by the conflicts among the Palestinian political stakeholders, since both the timely implementation or the postponement of the election may affect the outcome. Each force with a realistic chance to win wants the election to be held at the time and under the circumstances that are best for them. In such a climate of mistrust, no matter when the elections are held, the authorities will likely have a very hard time guaranteeing the fairness of the vote and resisting the pressure of the locally strong political organizations.
In addition, the Israeli side apparently shows no willingness whatsoever to allow European Union observers to work in the Palestinian areas, despite the EU’s repeated pleas to the Israeli authorities.
On the other hand, the Israeli concerns are somewhat understandable as the heated election climate may inevitably entail increasing tensions or unwanted international attention for Israel. Furthermore, many people still vividly remember Hamas’ landslide victory in 2006, and the extremist forces have a chance to do well in this election too, but you don’t need a crystal ball to realize that the current situation just expands the radicals’ voter base, which will further aggravate Israeli-Palestinian relations.
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The list of obstacles to the election also includes the unsettled status of the occupied territories and especially that of East Jerusalem, where Israel strives to prevent the activity and campaigns of the Palestinian political forces and even the election itself. Without the Palestinian inhabitants of East Jerusalem however, it is inconceivable for Palestine to hold the election at all.
Despite the many risks and difficulties however, postponing the election even further would hardly help, since the Israeli-Palestinian peace process requires both sides to have stability and strong leaders – which are sorely missing on the Palestinian side at the moment, and you can hardly have meaningful negotiations with a leadership that has lost its legitimacy. On the other hand, an extremist breakthrough would be unfortunate, too. Paradoxically enough, regardless how low the chances are for such an outcome in an election, hopelessness and the lack of prospects tend to play into the hands of uncompromising actors who favour violent methods and hinder the peace process, just like it would happen in any other part of the world.
No solution is possible without providing Palestinians with the prospect of a settlement that would consider their aspects as well.
The international community’s recommendations for such a solution are already available: despite the failures, several key principles have been laid out over the past decades, including, first of all, the two-state solution that could provide the necessary guarantees for both the Israeli and the Palestinian side. The question is: are the parties willing to accept a compromise like that? Such a solution would inevitably mean that the Palestinian radicals would have to recognize the State of Israel, while Israel would have to abandon its policy involving military occupation, stop ignoring the UN resolutions, stop supporting the establishment of illegal settlements on the West Bank or lift the Gaza blockade.
However, any reconciliation is impossible without politicians able to grow up to this task and make responsible decisions instead of riding the populist wave.
Unfortunately, the last months have brought a series of political crises in Israel, where the political discourse, which used to be dominated by such leaders as Yitzhak Rabin, is now increasingly polarized with more and more radical voices. If the situation stays like that on the Palestinian side too, it will be very hard to move the peace process forward. Even though the world needs it more than ever.
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Dwayne Johnson would run for U.S. President if people want him
“Fast & Furious” star Dwayne Johnson said on Monday that he would run for U.S. President if he felt he had enough support from Americans.
Johnson, 48, one of the highest-paid and most popular actors in the United States, has been flirting with a possible White House bid for several years.
“I do have that goal to unite our country and I also feel that if this is what the people want, then I will do that,” Johnson said when asked about his presidential ambitions in an interview broadcast on the “Today” show on Monday.
The former professional wrestler did not say which party he would represent or when he might launch any bid for the White House.
His remarks follow an online public opinion poll released last week by consumer trends company Piplsay that found some 46% of Americans would consider voting for Johnson.
Johnson, known as “The Rock,” said he was humbled by the poll.
“I don’t think our Founding Fathers EVER envisioned a six-four, bald, tattooed, half-Black, half-Samoan, tequila drinking, pick-up truck driving, fanny-pack wearing guy joining their club – but if it ever happens it’d be my honor to serve you, the people,” he said in an Instagram posting.
Johnson, whose work includes the rebooted “Jumanji” movie franchise and the TV show “Young Rock,” joins a long list of American celebrities who have run for political office, including former “Apprentice” star Donald Trump.
“Magic Mike” actor Matthew McConaughey and former Olympic champion Caitlyn Jenner are reported to be weighing potential runs for governor in Texas and California respectively.
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Bulgarian PM’s party winning election: partial official results
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s centre-right GERB party is set to win most votes in a weekend parliamentary election, data from the central electoral commission showed on Monday, but may struggle to muster a majority.
With 25.6% of votes after two-thirds of ballots were counted, Borissov, 61, who has dominated Bulgarian politics for over a decade, will have the largest party in the next parliament.
But he could find it hard to build a coalition after anger over corruption weighed on his showing.
The new anti-establishment party There Is Such a People, of popular TV host and singer Slavi Trifonov, was running second with 18.3% of votes, followed by the opposition Socialists with 14.9%, data showed.
The anti-graft grouping Democratic Bulgaria and centre-left alliance Stand Up! Mafia Out!, which were behind massive anti-corruption protests seeking to topple Borissov last year, were on 10.3% and 5% percent respectively.
The ethnic Turkish MRF party had 9% of votes counted, while the nationalist VMRO, the current coalition partner of GERB, was at 3.6%, below the 4% threshold for parliamentary entry, according to the data for 67% of ballots counted.
Full official results are expected on Thursday.
