Left-wing infighting still not over

A right-wing commentator ridicules the on-going feud among left-liberal parties as a sign of utter political incompetence, while his left-wing colleague thinks new rules should be laid down to avoid this kind of „disgrace” in the future.

Just over two months before the municipal elections, the left-wing forces agreed on a joint candidate for the post of Mayor in Budapest and adopted a mixed system of running joint candidates in some districts and competing in others. (See BudaPost, August 7)They would have preferred to run separately, but the new electoral rules compel them to stand joint candidates in most of the districts, except that they have to stand separately in at least seven,  to be able to take their share of the 9 council mandates distributed among losing district mayoral candidates. The assembly of Socialist delegates only approved the deal on condition that the MSZP would get more seats on a few district councils. At first their partners publicly refused to bargain, but over the weekend they reached agreements on all issues, except for the 14^th district.

In his Magyar Nemzet editorial, Tamás Pilhál finds it pathetic that the left-wing parties practically gave up any chance of victory in the seven districts where they are running separately and thereby sent their voters the message that it made no sense for them to vote. He recalls the painful “prime ministerial casting” in 2009 when the Left was hesitating for weeks about whom to appoint after Ferenc Gyurcsány resigned. That time they proved their incompetence in government, Pilhál writes, while this time they are proving to be incompetent even in opposition.

In Népszava, Iván Andrassew calls the Left’s performance during „this electoral year” pitiful, and believes that the opposition should devise new rules in order to avoid being ridiculed in the future. He suggests that programs and candidates should be put forward six months before each election, and parties unable to conform should not be allowed to run. In addition, he calls upon the Left to “do something” before the municipal elections next autumn to allow the electorate to think that “the left is the minor evil and its dementia is a passing one”.

Tags: elections, MSZP, opposition