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LMP split still in focus

January 30th, 2013

Two days after four prominent members left the LMP to join an opposition alliance, their decision still catches the headlines. Columnists disagree, however, on whether the LMP story will have an impact on future political developments.

In Magyar Nemzet, Matild Torkos sides with the mainstream LMP leaders. The defectors, she suggests, are now siding with those against whom they originally intended to show that Politics can be Different (Lehet Más a Politika in Hungarian – LMP for short). She thinks those who leave the party should leave parliament and pass over their mandates to people who stick to the original message “rather than deceiving their voters.”

In  Népszabadság, Ákos Tóth believes what is happening within and around the LMP is negligible. The outcome of next year’s elections will depend on whether or not the Fidesz camp continues to shrink. Tóth speculates that it probably will, as “conservatives who still have their wits about them will never again vote for those people.”

In Heti Válasz, Attila Michnai makes a similar point: all the fuss around LMP and the opposition alliance is perfectly irrelevant, for it only concerns political insiders. Instead, he suggests, the electoral campaign should focus for once on what a future government should do. Michnai thinks major parties should be required to submit a full-fledged draft budget in the campaign, while smaller ones should fill out a simple form containing questions about deficit, crime, corruption and minorities.

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