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.

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.