Three opposition parties meet executives for building 2018 election strategy

Budapest (MTI) – Three opposition parties met with company executives on Wednesday to outline political strategies for replacing the government in 2018.

The Jobbik party and the LMP party plan to run on individual tickets while the Együtt party wants to form an alliance for the elections, party leaders said in Röjtökmuzsaj, near the border with Austria, where the event was held for the 31st time.

András Schiffer and Gábor Vona

Jobbik leader Gábor Vona said there are no centrist powers around ruling Fidesz anymore but people feel they have no alternative to Fidesz. At the same time he said voters will not choose Fidesz, though this has been covered by the wave of migration as a red herring. He said Fidesz can only be beaten by the runner-up party and noted that according to poll results, Jobbik has 57 percent support in the under-35 age group.

Jobbik’s foreign policy can best be seen as in a triangle of Germany, Russia and Turkey with the Arab world in which the party keeps equal distance from all three points, he added.

Együtt leader Viktor Szigetvári said the regime was not a centrist power but an illiberal force which failed to handle the social problems of the past 25 years. However, municipal by-elections last year showed that the leftist opposition is not in a position yet to become a rival to the governing parties. “Jobbik would take the country to the same dead-end as Fidesz has done,” Szigetvári said. Együtt represents a “sober, western-type of strong alternative for 2018 with support for a reformed Europe,” he said.

András Schiffer, co-leader of LMP, said the centrist power zone does exist but it is on “shaky ground”. Although polls currently still put Fidesz in the lead, it is a question of time for how long the party can hide its mistakes behind the migrant crisis.

He said while Fidesz used strong and clear language in its communications in 2010-2014 it has become obvious that it has no plans for the post-2014 period. “The question of 2016 will be whether our education and health-care systems can survive,” he said.

Vona said migration and corruption were the two most burning issues in politics at present, and while Fidesz wanted to keep the former on the agenda Jobbik wants to focus on the latter.

Szigetvári said his party is stronger structurally in big cities, adding that Egyutt is open for a “political and linguistic renewal” in the election campaign. “We are open to all cooperation which can lead to victory,” he said, adding that he did not think Jobbik could beat Fidesz and that Schiffer will “make a pact with anyone who comes into power”.