After Israel’s tight election, who matters and what happens next?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prospects for another term looked uncertain on Wednesday after partial results from Israel’s fourth national election in two years projected no clear path to victory.
The right-wing bloc led by Netanyahu’s Likud party had a slight edge but was in a tight race with a grouping of centre, left and right-wing parties looking to unseat him.
WHO ARE THE MAIN PLAYERS?
NETANYAHU, 71, campaigned on Israel’s world-beating COVID-19 vaccine rollout, but such is the polarisation in Israeli politics that even this could not break the stalemate.
Critics accuse him of mismanaging pandemic lockdowns that have hit Israel’s economy hard and also point to corruption allegations. He denies any wrongdoing.
His party looks set to lose around six seats – falling to around 30 in Israel’s 120-seat parliament – making him more reliant on right-wing rivals.
They will demand concessions during coalition horse-trading, and will ultimately be looking to replace him as standard-bearer of the right.
YAIR LAPID, 57, a former finance minister and TV host who leads the centre-left party Yesh Atid – “There is a Future”.
His party is predicted to come second, with around 18 seats.
Lapid campaigned to “bring sanity” back to Israel with clean government and moderate leadership.
But he faces an even harder task – uniting disparate parties from across the political spectrum. They all want to see Netanyahu removed, but are not obvious bedfellows.
NAFTALI BENNETT, 48, a former Netanyahu aide, defence minister and high-tech millionaire who heads the ultra-hawkish Yamina party and is vying to be the next leader of the Israeli right.
Though his party is predicted to grow slightly to seven seats, Bennett has positioned himself as a king-maker, refusing to commit to Netanyahu or against him.
GIDEON SAAR, 54, a former cabinet minister who quit Likud to set up the New Hope party, vowing to end Netanyahu’s reign.
Like Likud his party opposes Palestinian statehood. Saar’s campaign centred on clean government and jump-starting the economy but is expected to land only six seats.
He could help unite factions from left and right. But Netanyahu will probably urge disappointed New Hope members to defect back ‘home’ to Likud.
BEZALEL SMOTRICH, 41, heads the far-right Religious Zionism party, which is projected to win around six seats.
It includes Itamar Ben-Gvir, a former activist with the now-outlawed Kach movement, which advocated that Israel expel Arabs. It also includes a member of the Noam movement, which opposes LGBT rights and recognition of non-Orthodox Judaism in Israel.
The party includes hardline Jewish settlers among its base, and rejects any territorial concessions to the Palestinians.
MANSOUR ABBAS, 46, an Islamist forecast to win five seats, has shaken the Arab political establishment by floating the idea of working with Netanyahu’s right-wing government to address violence and other social issues in Arab towns.
No Arab party has ever joined a ruling Israeli coalition, and Abbas’s proposal is rejected by most Arab voters, many of whom identify with their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank and Gaza.
Although Netanyahu dropped past scaremongering about Arabs to reach out to them in this election, it remains an unlikely alliance of opposites.
The divisions within Israel’s 21% Arab minority look set to push overall Arab representation down.
WHEN ARE THE RESULTS?
The final tally is expected by Friday. A party must pass a threshold of 3.25% of the votes to enter parliament. Around 12 parties have a realistic chance of qualifying.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE RESULTS ARE PUBLISHED?
Israel’s president will consult with party leaders about who they want as prime minister. By April 7 he is expected to choose the legislator with the best chance.
That nominee has up to 42 days to form a government. Then the president asks others to try.
If nobody succeeds, Israel goes to a fifth election.
Read alsoHungary to cooperate with Israeli firm on Covid-19 test production
Kosovo parliament backs Albin Kurti as new prime minister
Kosovo’s parliament backed Albin Kurti as prime minister on Monday, more than a month after the small Balkan country held a snap election.
Kurti, 46, a leftist and an Albanian nationalist, whose coalition secured 67 votes in the 120-seat parliament, said its main priorities will be the fight against corruption and the creation of jobs in a country with the youngest population in Europe and unemployment of around 30%.
If it wants to join the European Union, Kosovo must also improve relations with neighbouring Serbia, which is a candidate for membership in the bloc.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade, backed by Russia, China, and some EU members, refuses to recognise it.
Before the vote, Kurti said he wants to resolve all pending issues with Serbia, but added that recognition of Kosovo’s independence by Belgrade remains the main precondition.
“If Serbia does not recognise an independent Kosovo there cannot be a normalisation of relations,” Kurti said.
Serbia lost control of Kosovo, its former southern province, in 1999 after NATO bombing campaign forced it to end a bloody counter-insurgency against Kosovo Albanians.
Authorities in Pristina are struggling to contain the COVID-19 epidemic and Kurti said his government wants to have 60% of Kosovo’s 1.8 million population vaccinated by the end of 2021.
Kosovo is the only country in Europe that has not yet started a vaccination campaign.
Kurti has already served as prime minister, for 50 days last year, until his coalition partner, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), sided with the opposition to topple him, mainly over the handling of the COVID-19 epidemic.
The finance minister in the new government will be Artane Rizvanolli, a professor of economics who studied in Britain.
Read alsoTragedy at a hospital in Budapest – Reporter from Kosovo bled to death while giving birth
U.S. report says Russia, not China, tried to influence 2020 election
Russia’s government tried to seed the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign with “misleading or unsubstantiated allegations” against then-candidate Joe Biden through allies of former President Trump and his administration, U.S. intelligence officials said on Tuesday.
The assessment was made in a 15-page report into election interference published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It underscores allegations that Trump’s allies were playing into Moscow’s hands by amplifying claims made against Biden by Russian-linked Ukrainian figures in the run up to the Nov. 3 election. Biden defeated Trump and took office on Jan. 20.
U.S. intelligence agencies found other attempts to sway voters, including a “multi-pronged covert influence campaign” by Iran intended to undercut Trump’s support. The report also punctures a counter-narrative pushed by Trump’s allies that China was interfering on Biden’s behalf, concluding that Beijing “did not deploy interference efforts.”
“China sought stability in its relationship with the United States and did not view either election outcome as being advantageous enough for China to risk blowback if caught,” the report said.
U.S. officials said they also saw efforts by Cuba, Venezuela and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to influence the election, although “in general, we assess that they were smaller in scale than those conducted by Russia and Iran.”
U.S. intelligence agencies and former Special Counsel Robert Mueller previously concluded that Russia also interfered in the 2016 U.S. election to boost Trump’s candidacy with a campaign of propaganda aimed at harming his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Read alsoUnthinkable? EU considers getting a vaccine boost from Russia’s Sputnik
Opposition: Primaries only way to nominate credible candidates in 2022
Holding primaries would be the only way for the opposition to select the most credible candidates and mobilise their base for the 2022 general election, Péter Márki-Zay, the mayor of Hódmezővásárhely, in southern Hungary, said on Thursday.
Only a united opposition would have a shot at winning in 2022 against the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance, Márki-Zay, who heads the Everyone’s Hungary Movement (MMM), told an online press conference.
Because no third-party organisation will have a chance of even clearing the 5 percent threshold to get into parliament on their own, anyone who runs as an independent candidate or fields their own party list would be simply risking handing another victory to Fidesz, he said.
MMM has already decided whom to back in 65 of Hungary’s 106 electoral districts, Márki-Zay said.
He cited MMM’s sources as saying that primaries would have to be held in at least 85 districts.
Márki-Zay said it was of strategic importance for the opposition not to exclude or block anyone from running in the primaries in the interest of preventing third-party challenges in the general election.
Foreign minister asks Biden for more respect, in return he promises cooperation
According to Péter Szijjártó, the government would like to cooperate with Joe Biden’s administration, but he is asking for more respect for Hungary.
The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs was a guest of the Global Conversation program in Euronews‘ Brussels studio, where he also spoke about the Russian Sputnik V vaccine contract, the rule of law mechanism and the Navalny case.
Szijjártó said that it was “not very important” that the Hungarian government was pro-Trump in the US presidential election campaign. He justified this by saying that as Hungarians they could not vote for the US presidential candidates.
He also claimed that he himself had not criticized Joe Biden, but that the new president of the USA had insulted Hungary when he called it an autocratic system.
According to the Foreign Minister, this insult was only part of the campaign anyway.
“We obviously ask for more respect for Hungary in this regard. We are quite confident that if the new president wants to deal with Central Europe, we are ready to work with him.”
He said he wanted the same level of ties with the United States as Hungary did during Trump’s presidency.
On another topic, he added that he does not see a more democratic politician in Europe than Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the moment.
Read alsoPM Viktor Orbán to have nightmares because of President Biden?
Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi on Biden’s presidency: The world expects normalcy
Remarks by Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi:
Almost exactly a hundred years ago, then presidential candidate Warren G. Harding said in a campaign speech:
“America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment.”
Just a few years after World War 1 officially ended but cannons were still being fired in several points of the world, and when humanity was just beginning to recover from the shock and the losses caused by the Spanish flu, President Harding’s position hardly needed any further explanation. Everybody could very well remember how the world had suddenly become a volatile and dangerous place after the “happy times of peace”. This change was an unwelcome one. People were exhausted and longed for stability.
We may be having similar feelings nowadays. We have an eventful (albeit more peaceful and happier than the 1910s) decade behind us: we have seen the rise and then the more and more spectacular failure of political populism as well as a pandemic with its consequent social and economic tensions.
Normalcy and stability have never been more sorely needed than now. The question is: can we get there?
Just a few days after the inauguration of US President Joe Biden, we can hardly know how the future generations will remember his presidency, so we can only hope that we are facing a calmer period than the term of President Donald Trump. All of us, but especially the people of the United States need it more than anything. However, it cannot happen without temperance and self-restraint.
Unfortunately, certain triumphant voices are still looking forward to taking a revenge for their real or imagined grievances and political attacks suffered during the Trump era. I find these voices deeply concerning. Not because I shed a single tear for Trump’s presidency or his methods, but because the past weeks and months have clearly shown where political incitement and revanchism may lead. The “siege” of the Capitol has made us all realize how fragile democracy is and how easily a few remarks or allegations can trigger social disruption and unrest with human casualties.
That’s why I hope the new Biden administration will feel the responsibility bestowed upon them by the trust of the American citizens, and spare no effort to unite the nation. In order for that to happen, you sometimes need to be generous and rise above the grievances or political conflicts. If the new president and his administration keeps its eyes on the past or engages in altercations with the members and the supporters of the previous leadership, the loser will be the entire American nation while the winner will be the very same populism that we would love to finally forget.
In the upcoming period, all eyes will be on America to see how it copes with the legacy of the past years. Besides moderate politicians, populists will also watch intensely because every conflict, every disgruntled or ignored citizen will be yet another political opportunity for them. In our present, pandemic-ridden situation, it is especially important for us to realize that we need to reinforce democracy by involving people as partners in governance.
I am convinced this is the only way to move forward and give our citizens what they so deeply long for after this turbulent period: normalcy.
Read alsoPM Viktor Orbán to have nightmares because of President Biden?
Foreign minister sends congratulatory letters to new US State, Commerce, Energy Secretaries
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has sent letters of congratulations to three incoming secretaries of the new US administration of President Joe Biden.
In his letter to Antony Blinken, the new Secretary of State, Szijjártó said the United States is the most important ally and strategic partner of Hungary outside the European Union, adding that Hungarian-US relations have progressed and reached new heights in recent years.
Szijjártó said he is convinced that “the current exceptional relationship provides both countries with the best framework to face the new challenges arising from the pandemic situation, as well as to further strengthen the transatlantic relationship, which is vital to the security of Europe”.
“This year Hungary and the United States will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. On this grandiose occasion, I especially look forward to fostering the bilateral ties between our two countries,” the foreign minister said.
Szijjártó said the Hungarian government is looking forward to cooperation with the United States based on shared values, mutual interests and mutual respect between the two nations and he personally will work towards promoting political, security, economic and cultural cooperation.
In the context of foreign policy, Szijjártó stated Hungary’s continued support to the United States’ and Israel’s efforts towards bringing about sustainable peace in the Middle East and fighting against antisemitism in Europe and elsewhere in the world. He said that as a long-time supporter of the EU accession of the countries in the Western Balkans, the Hungarian government also welcomes efforts by the United States to promote peace and prosperity in the region.
Highlighting the importance of cooperation as allies in NATO, Szijjártó noted Hungary’s participation in several international military missions. He said Hungary had made significant efforts to boost its defence spending over the past few years and will reach the 2 percent target by 2024 at the latest. He further noted that the country has increased the proportion of defence investment well above the 20 percent threshold, adding that several bilateral agreements promote military partnership between the US and Hungary.
As regards economy and trade, Szijjártó said partnership in those areas has progressed significantly in the past years.
He noted that there are 1,700 US companies employing around 106,000 employees in Hungary with bilateral trade growing by an annual 2.3 percent to 5.8 billion dollars in 2019.
He said he will work closely with the new US administration to identify additional areas of economic and business cooperation and expressed hope to meet the new state secretary in person as soon as possible.
In his letter to Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce, Szijjártó said that the Department of Commerce will play an essential role in post-pandemic economic recovery. He said that Hungary highly values the successes the two countries have achieved in bilateral trade in recent years and will continue to look for possibilities of cooperation.
“Maintaining strong ties with our global economic partners such as the United States will always be a priority for Hungary,” he said.
In his letter to Jennifer Mulhern Granholm, Secretary of Energy, Szijjártó said that US-Hungarian cooperation in the field of energy has improved considerably over the past years. He stated the Hungarian government’s commitment towards fighting against climate change, and underlined the importance of renewables and enhanced role of nuclear energy.
“I am convinced that we will find ample common ground to enhance our cooperation in the field of energy, based on mutual respect and cooperation,” Szijjártó said.
Read alsoHungarian opposition: Biden presidency ‘end to populism’
Opposition MEP: PM Orbán’s acts can destabilize Europe as Trump did so in the USA
Remarks from Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi:
If you followed the events unfolding in Washington on 6 January, you saw some shocking images. Instigated by Donald Trump, who lost the presidential election but refused to admit his defeat, the crowd broke into the Capitol. This botched attempt at a coup was unable to shake the political system of the US.
However, the event has a much larger significance: this example may lead to quite a lot of problems in Europe in the future…
Even though you can be sure that Donald Trump will step down at the end of January at the latest to let Joe Biden’s presidency begin, there’s something frightening about the fact that the United States of America got to this point despite being one of the homelands of democracy. Of course, we are witnessing decades-long taboos being lifted these days, while loud and narcissistic “mobocrats” are busy trying to shape to their image all those political systems that have so far been built upon pluralism, tolerating different opinions, seeking compromises and trusting each other.
From now on, Donald Trump, the role model for the world’s populist leaders, will be represented in the history books as the man who thought that he could use his Tweets to single-handedly control the sophisticated system of checks and balances that forms the very core of the United States, and when he failed, he instigated his followers with conspiracy theories and sparked a skirmish that eventually led to human casualties in the Capitol.
Trump will leave, but the people whom he has been leading by the nose for years will stay here with their questions and their doubts raised by the president’s refusal to acknowledge the election results.
The next administration will have a huge task at hand to restore peace in the American society.
On the other hand, the politicians who considered Trump as their role model will stay among us. Not just in the US, but here in Hungary, too.
As a Hungarian, I obviously cannot ignore Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán’s acts but I think the debate of the EU budget clearly revealed for everyone that he was no longer just a “Hungarian affair” and his acts can destabilize Europe as a whole. Just as Hungary is much smaller than the United States, our political system is that much more vulnerable, which allowed Orbán to completely shape the state administration to his own liking over the past eleven years. Trump could only dream of what Orbán has already put into practice.
While Trump relied on his personal magic and communication to cling to the hope, perhaps even until early 2020, that he might spend a second term in the presidential seat, Orbán methodically reshaped Hungary’s electoral system, wrote a new, customized constitution and put tried-and-tested Fidesz cadres in key state administration positions. This is how Orbán’s loyal servant could become the chief prosecutor, and active Fidesz politicians were appointed to head the tax authority and the State Audit Office.
When he had some concerns in terms of keeping his power in 2018, he used this network to bombard his challengers through administrative means before the elections.
In 2022 however, the next national elections will be held in a different Hungary, which has suffered a significant economic decline due to the pandemic and lost almost all of its European allies, and where the united opposition will nominate joint MP candidates, a joint list and a joint PM candidate to face Fidesz that is weakening according to the polls. Fidesz is likely to keep following the example of its American role model with the same fervour it demonstrated in supporting Trump during the US election campaign.
To illustrate Fidesz’ attitude, it is enough to note that such a key politician as Foreign Affairs Minister Péter Szíjjártó personally accused Joe Biden’s family of criminal acts while Viktor Orbán used every platform to announce that he rooted for Donald Trump’s victory. They insisted on their positions even after Joe Biden’s triumph, in fact, Orbán was among the last to congratulate Biden while Speaker of the Parliament László Kövér has repeatedly said in public that he thought the American election was marred by fraud and Biden was helped into his seat by the same “powers that be” which are also behind the Hungarian opposition, according to Kövér.
All these acts mean that the Hungarian opposition is likely to face a difficult period until the 2022 national elections as well as a less than seamless transition of power in the weeks after. Fidesz’ involvement of the far right to quickly amend the election law in December is probably just the first step of its manipulation scheme to stay in power at all costs. Considering how Orbán and other key Fidesz figures, including those currently heading supposedly “independent” institutions, have constantly been throwing the same accusations at opposition leaders that Trump used for inciting hatred against his rival, it seems naive to hope that the Hungarian elections can be held in order. Fidesz has already begun preparing for such a scenario. Among other things, Speaker László Kövér has questioned the outcome of the election in advance, provided that the winner is not Fidesz.
This is especially frightening because while the US political system clearly determines what happens when a president’s mandate expires, Orbán has built a country where the leaders occupying nearly all key institutional positions are loyal to Orbán and Fidesz rather than Hungary or the Hungarian people. We can only hope that Hungary’s 2022 elections will not bring such events that we saw in Lukashenko’s Belarus.
Populism and the political agenda based on instigating people against each other has indeed lost a major battle in America.
In Hungary however, it still lives with us for the time being. We hope it doesn’t stay much longer
Over 300,000 register for vaccination in Hungary
So far, 307,000 Hungarians have registered for vaccination against Covid-19, a state secretary of the prime minister’s cabinet told MTI on Tuesday.
Csaba Dömötör noted that vaccination would be provided on a voluntary basis and registration was instrumental in estimating public demand.
Minister Gergely Gulyás said
voluntary and free Covid-19 testing would be offered to kindergarten and school staff who can reserve dates between December 23 and 30.
Testing will be carried out by the government offices, he said.
Gulyás also said in response to a question that the lifting of the curfew restrictions for the night of December 24 would not increase health risks significantly and the government wanted to ensure that people can attend midnight mass. He said the current special legal order will expire on February 7, but can be extended by the government for 15 days, and then by parliament which will again meet following February 15.
The epidemic will end once a vaccine is available in enough quantity, he said. The government has reserved 16 million doses of vaccine through the European Union which is sufficient for the inoculation of 8 million people.
Once 60-65 percent of the population gets vaccinated, “herd immunity” will be achieved, he added.
Asked whether people who get vaccinated will get different treatment from those who don’t, he said there would certainly be some regulations that differentiate between them, for instance by airline companies. A “vaccination book” will be an important document next to passports and IDs following mass vaccinations, he added.
He said in response to a question about digital education that the operative board would decide between the holidays whether it would be maintained after January 11.
He also said that the government would invite EU tenders to a value of several thousand billion forints between January and March, which will enable companies to get capital in a difficult economic period and to preserve or create jobs. The cabinet hopes that this will contribute to “tangible” economic growth in 2021, he added.
Gulyás said that
disputes around the local business tax cut were motivated by partisan politics, and insisted that “if right-wing mayors can manage, left-wing ones should also be able to”.
He also said that Budapest was the country’s richest municipality, and as such should easily leverage for lost revenues. The government halving the tax will leave money with businesses and “will not deprive Budapest of as much money as the opposition says, a couple ten billion forints at the most,” he said. He also said that Budapest’s revenues had amounted to 294 billion forints last year, as opposed to 182 billion in 2011.
Answering a question about the Norway Grants, Gulyás welcomed that an agreement had been reached concerning the distribution of the funds after several years of dispute. A new body made up of civil representatives of the two countries will put out tenders and evaluate bids for a combined 214 million euros, he said.
To another question, Gulyás said that
the government was not planning any measures to restrict foreign retail chains.
Commenting on a decision by six opposition parties to run on a joint list in the 2022 election, Gulyás said that an “unprincipled coalition” had been set up, arguing that nearly all the parties involved had earlier categorically excluded the possibility of working with each other.
He cited the example of Jobbik which had been set up expressly against Democratic Coalition leader Ferenc Gyurcsány, yet the party is now “eating his salt” and the same applies to Momentum, he said.
The coalition ranging from “the far right to the far left” would be obviously unfit to govern the country and their only purpose is to gain power, he said.
Gulyás said such cooperation by the opposition lacked principles, adding that their rejection of all the government’s achievements could hardly be successful and the country would suffer if they were to come to power.
Ruling parties lawmakers change rules governing national election lists in Hungary
Lawmakers on Tuesday changed the rules for how parliamentary election lists are drawn up.
The government-sponsored changes to the election law were adopted with 134 votes in favour and 60 against.
Accordingly, in order to establish a national list, a party must run 71 individual candidates in at least 14 counties and the capital as opposed to 27 previously.
Also the amendment addresses the issue of crowding at polling stations to ensure that more registration desks, ballot booths and stations are provided if a constituency contains more than 1,500 voters.
Also, the deadline for voter registration is now the ninth day prior to the vote as opposed to the fourth day.
Other changes apply to the use of public spaces for campaign activities, defining the amount of space that can be used in particular circumstances.
Further, the salary base of members of the National Electoral Committee will increase from 10 times that of ordinary civil servants to 12 times, while the salary of the committee’s head will rise from 15 times to 21 times.
Read alsoThe Orbán cabinet to drastically change electoral laws again?
Putin congratulates Biden on presidential victory
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday sent U.S. President-elect Joe Biden a congratulatory telegram on his election victory, the Kremlin said in a statement.
In the telegram, Putin wished Biden success and expressed confidence that despite existing differences, Russia and the United States can contribute to solving many challenges that the world is currently facing, given that both countries bear responsibility for global security and stability, according to the Kremlin.
“The Russian-American cooperation based on the principles of equality and mutual respect would meet the interests of the peoples of both countries and the entire international community,” the Kremlin cited Putin as saying.
“For my part, I am ready for interaction and contact with you,” said Putin.
The U.S. Electoral College cast votes on Monday for a new president based on the 2020 election results, making Democrat Biden’s White House victory official.
The former vice president has surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the White House after California, which has 55 Electoral College votes, the most of any state, put Biden over the top on Monday evening.
According to the final count, 306 electoral college votes have been cast for Biden and 232 votes for sitting President Donald Trump.
Read alsoHungarian family kicked off plane in the U.S. because 2-year-old would not wear a mask
It’s official: Biden confirmed as US president-elect by Electoral College
The U.S. Electoral College cast votes on Monday for a new president based on the 2020 election results, making Democrat Joe Biden’s White House victory official.
The former vice president has surpassed 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the White House after California, which has 55 Electoral College votes, the most of any state, put Biden over the top on Monday evening.
Electors in key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona, where Trump had hotly contested but failed, voted with no surprises or defections.
Biden is expected to mark the occasion with an address to the country around 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday.
“Now it is time to turn the page. To unite. To heal,” Biden will say, according to an excerpt of his remarks released by his transition team.
“I will work just as hard for those of you who didn’t vote for me, as I will for those who did,” Biden will say, again vowing to be “a president for all Americans”.
After electors cast their ballots based on the 2020 election results in their respective states on Monday, those results will be certified and sent to Congress, the National Archives and to the courts. Congress will certify the results of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6 as the next step in the presidential transition process.
Despite the Electoral College vote on Monday, Trump and his allies said they will continue their efforts to overturn the election results, arguing that Jan. 20, when the new president will be sworn in, is the only date set by the U.S. Constitution.
In Michigan, the state Capitol was closed during the electoral vote because of threats of violence and protests.
Dozens of lawsuits challenging the election results by Trump’s campaign and his allies have been dismissed at the state and federal levels across the country since the November election.
Read alsoIt’s official: Biden confirmed as US president-elect by Electoral College
Is the Romanian secret service behind the anti-Hungarian AUR?
Alianța pentru Unirea Românilor (AUR), the Association for the Unification of Romanians, which was founded last year with a Christian, conservative, patriotic attitude, won almost nine per cent in the Romanian parliamentary elections on Sunday. The ultra-nationalist party, which has emerged from almost nothing, has thus entered the Bucharest legislature, creating a platform for extremist views. However, it does not have a coherent position; its strength is the emotion-based politicisation with which it took votes from rival parties, primarily the Social Democrats. According to the Romanian expert, János T. Barabás, the activity of the Romanian secret service is behind the success of the AUR.
The key to the AUR’s fourth-place success in the parliamentary elections is its support for the European Romanian diasporas, its opposition to the political elite, and its campaign on social media sites. The message of improving Romania, uniting Romanians, and eradicating corruption and nepotism resonated well with millions of Romanian citizens living abroad, which also contributed to receiving almost half a million votes. The AUR Facebook pages performed exceptionally well in the campaign compared to the online activities of other Romanian parties.
János T. Barabás, a senior analyst at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economics (KKI), gave a statement to Index, in which he said that the campaign rhetoric revolved around three main topics:
- ethnicity-based nationalism and revisionist aspirations, the unification of all Romanians;
- confrontation with epidemiological measures (anti-mask, virus denial);
- the promotion of traditional family values in accordance with the guidelines of the Orthodox Christian religion.
“Romanians are fed up with theft, lies, and lack of attachment to national values. We are a Christian, nationalist, patriotic party,”
said the AUR’s founder, 34-year-old George Simion, in his post-parliamentary victory speech.
Like the other leaders, Simion is not new to Romanian public life. He began his public career as a soccer ultra, and he founded the hockey ultra-groups Honor et Patria and Uniti Sub Tricolor, which bring together fans of the Romanian national team. According to transindex.ro, their common chants include “afara cu unguri din tara”, which means “out of the country with the Hungarians”.
Another influential figure in the AUR is the blogger Dan Tanasâ, who has been mocked as the “fake news writer”. Tanasa was actively involved in the party’s online campaign. The KKI researcher reminds us that the Romanian authorities did not initiate proceedings due to what happened, which raises the possibility that they carried out what seemed to be a civil initiative with the approval of the Romanian secret services, with the aim of intimidating Hungarians.
Another co-chair of the AUR is former journalist Claudiu Târziu, who, in 2018, as a member of the Coalition for Family NGO, initiated a referendum to ban same-sex marriage. It was not successful.
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The worldview of the three exemplary party members also reflects the AUR’s campaign narrative: anti-Hungarian, anti-LGBTQ, anti-mask, anti-Orthodox Christian values, revisionism, ethnicity-based nationalism, and opposition to the political elite.
The party is a melting pot of different extreme approaches, from which every Romanian dissatisfied with the current state of politics can choose in accordance with their views.
Siegfried Muresan, a Member of the European Parliament for the Romanian National Liberal Party (PNL), spoke to Euronews, for example, about the AUR as an anti-EU, pro-Russian bloc representing a small part of the Romanian population.
“Hungarians have come up on several occasions in the ultranationalist party’s program,” explains the KKI analyst. The areas with a Hungarian majority, namely, Harghita, Covasna, and Mures counties, are accused of suppressing the Romanian minority living there. The party also claims that there is genocide against the Romanian minority living abroad.
To understand the alleged relationship between the AUR and the Romanian secret service, it is essential to review George Simion’s political career. Simion has long dreamed of restoring the former Great Romani, uniting Romani and Moldova. He also organised several demonstrations, built a network, and founded newspapers. According to his declaration of assets, Simion has practically nothing, so it is questionable how he raised the money for these.
Polling stations set up in foreign countries are secured by Romanian diplomacy. However, the staff was provided by the AUR in several cases in the current elections.
“This cannot happen without the knowledge and permission of the Romanian diplomacy,” said Barabás.
The purpose of the secret service may have been for the AUR to absorb those ultranationalist-minded voters who, with the closure of the aptly named Greater Romania Party almost ten years ago, sought their representation but had not yet voted elsewhere. The nationalist rhetoric competition has now been won by the AUR, and it was achieved with new types of extreme-right political tools: emotion-based politicising and the strategic exploitation of social media networks.
“The ultranationalist party is still in isolation for the year, but its success in the election is still wrong for Romanian Hungarians; anti-Hungarian movements will increase in Romanian politics,” predicts Barabás.
PM Orban resigns amid failure to achieve election goal
Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban announced his resignation late Monday, after the ruling National Liberal Party (PNL) he leads failed to achieve its goal of scoring the best in Sunday’s parliamentary election.
The move is generally considered to also clear the way for his party to negotiate a future ruling alliance with other political parties.
“The decision I took has a very precise objective…the negotiations to follow must lead to a government formed by the center-right political formations to clearly support Romania’s Euro-Atlantic orientation,” Orban said after announcing his resignation.
Although the vote counting has not yet ended, the partial results have emerged and there will be no major changes.
Not only did the ruling PNL fail to get first place in the general election, but the gap with its main opponent Social Democrats reached a significant five percentage points.
The partial results show that the PNL, with 25 percent of the votes, must form a ruling coalition with other future parliamentary parties with similar political concepts to ensure its continuation of the ruling. The USR-PLUS Alliance, with some 15 percent of votes, is indispensable in this regard, but the latter has repeatedly emphasized that it is impossible to participate in a cabinet led by Orban.
Romania held the parliamentary election on Sunday, with a total of 7,136 candidates competing for seats in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
The partial results show that no party is likely to win more than 50 percent of the votes to hold the majority in the future parliament. Thus, the future government will almost certainly be a coalition one.
As we wrote today, Hungarian representation (RMDSZ) remained strong in the Romanian parliament, read more details.
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Romania’s main opposition Social Democratic Party leads in parliamentary election ?
Romania’s main opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) is likely to win the parliamentary elections here, gaining 30.61 percent of the vote with 98.44 percent of the ballots counted, according to the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) data released early Monday morning.
The ruling National Liberal Party, generally favored by polls before the election, scored second with 26.08 percent of the vote. Other parties that crossed the 5-percent threshold required for parliamentary seats were the USR-PLUS Alliance with 15.41 percent, the Alliance for Unity of Romanians (AUR) with 9.17 percent and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) with 6.10 percent.
The results of the election have surprised many as they were somewhat different from predictions.
Apart from the fact that the ruling party failed to rank first in the election, the AUR, the dark horse of the current election, is particularly eye-catching. The nationalist party, founded just over a year ago, has not only seized some seats in the new parliament, but also got high votes of nearly 10 percent.
Under special protection measures including wearing a mask and maintaining social distance, Romania held the parliamentary election on Sunday amid COVID-19, with a total of 7,136 candidates competing for seats in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
In order to win the parliament, the parties need to obtain over 5 percent of the national votes or over 20 percent of the votes in at least four constituencies.
According to the data announced by the BEC, the total number of eligible voters in Romania is over 18 million, yet the turnout rate in this general election was only 31.84 percent, the lowest in the past 30 years.
The partial results show that no party is likely to win more than 50 percent of the votes to hold the majority in the future parliament. Thus, the future government will almost certainly be a coalition one.
The election took place amid the worsening pandemic situation in the country, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases surpassing half a million on Friday.
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UPDATE
Orbán congratulates Romania RMDSZ on election result
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has congratulated Romania’s ethnic Hungarian RMDSZ party on the results it achieved in Sunday’s general election, saying that Hungarian representation remained strong in the Romanian parliament.
In a letter to RMDSZ head Hunor Kelemen, Orbán noted the challenges the coronavirus epidemic had posed during the elections. The difficulties have also shown, however, that “exemplary cooperation” between Hungarian parties in the country was justified, Orbán said, and congratulated Kelemen on the results.
Politicians encourage Hungarians’ voting in Romanian election
Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén urged Transylvanian Hungarians living outside Romania to support the ethnic Hungarian RMDSZ party in Romania’s parliamentary elections this Sunday.
“It is not just those living in Romania who should vote but also the hundreds of thousands or millions in the diaspora,” the deputy PM in charge of Hungarian communities abroad, church policy and national and ethnic minorities said on social media on Friday.
If members of the diaspora do not vote in large enough numbers, Hungarians may not be able to secure the level of representation they need in Bucharest, Semjén said.
Zsolt Molnár, the deputy leader of parliament’s national cohesion committee for the opposition Socialists, also called it important for the ethnic Hungarian RMDSZ party to achieve good results at the December 6 Romanian parliamentary elections.
The Hungarian Socialist Party has for long nurtured good relations with the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, and it has also been providing help to RMDSZ during the coronavirus pandemic, Molnár said in a video message on Facebook on Saturday.
He called Sunday’s ballot important from the point of view of the entire Hungarian community, and he appealed to those eligible to seize the opportunity and cast their ballots.
Meanwhile, Miklós Kásler, Hungary’s human resources minister, has also appealed to Hungarians in Romania to go out to vote.
“If Hungarians don’t stand up for themselves, others will not be there to do it for us,” the minister said on Facebook.
Hungarian political organisations are fielding candidates on a joint list in this year’s Romanian parliamentary elections. Candidates of the Transylvanian Hungarian Alliance are running their candidates together with those of RMDSZ.
Romania election – Votes can now be cast in Hungary
It is possible to vote in Hungary this weekend in the Romanian parliamentary elections taking place at the end of the week, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) said in a statement.
Voters can cast their ballots in seven polling stations between 7am and 9pm. local time.
Ballot boxes are located in the Romanian Embassy in Budapest, at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Budapest and at the Romanian Consulates General in Gyula and Szeged, while for the first time a polling station is now open in Biharkeresztes, the Hungarian city closest to Oradea.
Romanian citizens with foreign permanent or temporary residence can vote. IDs that have expired since March will also be accepted in view of the restrictions connected with the coronavirus pandemic.
Read alsoStronger RMDSZ presence in Romania parliament would help bilateral ties, says Hungarian FM in Szeklerland
Biden to urge Americans to wear masks for first 100 days after he takes office
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said on Thursday that he will urge Americans to wear masks for his first 100 days after taking office.
“In the first day I’m inaugurated I’m going to ask the public for 100 days to mask,” Biden told Jake Tapper, CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent, in an interview videotaped in Wilmington, Delaware.
“Just 100 days to mask. Not forever,” the Democrat said. “I think we will see a significant reduction, if that occurs with vaccinations and masking, to drive down the numbers considerably.”
Biden made the remarks as the COVID-19 pandemic is surging across the United States.
More than 14 million cases have been reported nationwide with some 276,000 deaths as of Thursday, according to tallies by Johns Hopkins University.
In addition, the country saw a record high single-day death toll to date on Wednesday with 3,157.
Some Americans have refused to wear masks in the pandemic and seen it as a political statement, despite strong evidence that mask wearing is highly effective in reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the community.
Sitting President Donald Trump didn’t publicly endorse wearing masks until July, several months after the pandemic broke out in the United States.
However, a U.S. president do not have the constitutional authority to directly order a nationwide mask mandate.
During the CNN interview, Biden also said he has asked Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious diseases expert, to be his chief medical adviser and part of his administration’s COVID-19 response team.
“I asked him to stay on the exact same role he has had for the past several presidents,” Biden said. “I asked him to be a chief medical adviser for me as well, and be part of the COVID team.”
Fauci, who has served as the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, will be staying on in his current role and advise Biden on the pandemic, according to U.S. media networks.
One of the most prominent members of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, Fauci had been at odds with the Republican on a number of occasions over the response to the pandemic.
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Momentum on board for joint opposition list in 2022
The Momentum Movement plans to be a part of the joint opposition list of candidates in the 2022 parliamentary elections, the party’s leader said on Facebook on Sunday.
András Fekete-Győr said the assembly of the party’s delegates authorised the party’s board on Sunday to set a joint party list with the opposition parties in the 2022 elections. Momentum will push for the most open and democratic primaries before the vote, he added.
“For the first time in ten years, there will be a real chance for us, Hungarians to shake off the byzantine, corrupt rule of Fidesz,” the politician said.
“2022 will be more than a change of government, it will be a real change of era, and our community is ready to work with the opposition parties to achieve this goal,” Fekete-Győr said, adding that his party believed in a fair and proportionate election system where voters can pick their favourite candidate in a diverse political space rather than having to choose between two major blocs.
Momentum also believes that it offers Hungary a new political culture, momentum, clean competition, solidarity and a positive national image, Fekete-Győr said. These values will be most strongly enforced in the election alliance, he added.
The Momentum community is committed to “tackling corruption, restoring the freedom of the press, creating a fair election law, and setting real limits on the power of political leaders so that the total power of a single person and a single party over Hungary can never be repeated”, he said.
“We believe that together we will oust [Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán’s regime and in a year and a half, a new, freer era will dawn on Hungary,” Fekete-Győr said.
