Hungarian Opposition Begins to Coordinate Before Vote
Hungarian Opposition Begins to Coordinate Before Vote
(Bloomberg) -- Hungarian opposition parties began coordinating in some key electoral districts as they tried to resuscitate a push to beat Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party in Sunday’s elections.
The Socialists, the second-most popular opposition force, and Lehet Mas a Politika, a smaller green group, agreed tentatively to withdraw candidates to give each other better chances in four districts, Index news website reported Tuesday. While an all-encompassing alliance looks out of reach, the Socialists agreed to cooperate with Demokratikus Koalicio, led by former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, and there’ve been other pacts among candidates.
With Fidesz supported by as many voters as the opposition combined, cooperation would be needed in dozens of Hungary’s 106 individual electoral districts for a chance to deny Orban a fourth term in office. A large majority of opposition voters would be in favor of their parties making concessions to other groups to achieve that, a separate Median poll published by Index showed. More voters want Orban to go than to stay, according to a survey by Zavecz Research carried out in March.
Talks about forming such a broad alliance have faltered so far, with Jobbik, the strongest opposition group, going it alone and left-wing parties bickering among themselves. Fidesz, meanwhile, is taking no chances, occupying some of Jobbik’s former ideological territory on the far right by ratcheting up anti-immigrant and anti-diversity rhetoric in the final stretch of the campaign.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andras Gergely in Budapest at agergely@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Scott Rose at rrose10@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey, Paul Abelsky
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