Hungary

Péter Krekó, research director of Political Capital, and Kornélia Magyar, director of the Progressive Institute, analyse the performance of the Fidesz government and reflect on the prospects for Fidesz and opposition parties in the 2014 election year.
  

Our panel discussion from May 31 featured three speakers from Hungary: Péter Krekó, research director of Political Capital Institute; Gordon Bajnai, prime Minister candidate of the "Together 2014-PM" electoral alliance; and Benedek Jávor, co-president of "Dialogue for Hungary". The following video interviews present their perspectives on the upcoming Hungarian elections.

Since 2010 the Fidesz-KDNP coalition adopted a new constitution with so far four rounds of constitutional amendments. This analysis issued by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Eötvös Károly Institute highlights the specific concerns in relation to the Fourth Amendment.

Tímea Szabó is co-president of the new green left party Dialogue for Hungary (PM). In the interview she talks about the new party's strategy after the split from the green party LMP in January. 

With the constitutional amendments adopted on the 11th of March, Viktor Orbán has once again caused a surprise. The reactions of the Western European public show that there is still an inadequate grasp of how political power is exercised by Orbán’s government. European democrats now finally need to formulate a common position against the power centralization in the country.

After the split of Hungarians green party LMP, two parties and strategies have been developed for a consistent eco-policy. The prospects regarding the upcoming elections are not extremely rosy for either side. 

The cold December fired up Hungarian politics. For days, thousands of students marched on the streets to protest against the government’s plans to drastically cut higher education spending. The demonstrations resulted in a defeat for Viktor Orbán, with his government being forced to withdraw its reform plans. 
  

After passing the Electoral Procedure Act, we are still far from knowing the final rules less than a year and a half ahead of the next parliamentary elections. However, the new electoral system turns out to be a measure of the governing party to increase its chances of winning the 2014 general election, while oppositional parties will be forced to organise their activist network and engage in a door-to-door campaign more effectively than before. 

András Schiffer, re-elected parliamentary leader of the green party LMP, about the party’s electoral strategy for 2014 and its rejection to join the new political movement Together 2014 ("T14").

A week ago the Congress of the Hungarian green party LMP has adopted a series of resolutions on the party’s electoral strategy for 2014, but there is still disagreement within the party on what the resolution prescribes in practice. An interview with Benedek Jávor, who has recently resigned as a parliamentary leader of the LMP.