Jobbik’s sweeping victory in Ózd
November 17th, 2014A liberal and a centrist commentator reed the success of the radical right-wing candidate in the Ózd municipal election as proof that left-wing voters are willing to support the far right if they see in that option an opportunity to defeat Fidesz.
In the city of Ózd, Jobbik candidate Dávid Janiczak won at the repeated mayoral election. The vote had to be repeated due to complaints about the October municipal election, where Janiczak won with only 66 dozen votes. In the repeated vote, Janiczak doubled his support and received 64 per cent of the vote, while incumbent mayor Pál Fürjes (Fidesz) got only 32 per cent. The candidate of the Left received a mere 3 per cent of the votes – 75 per cent less than in October.
“The lesson of the repeated Ózd municipal election is that Jobbik may attract the supporters of the MSZP,” Szabolcs Dull comments on Index. While both the MSZP and Jobbik claim that the two parties are on the opposing ends of the political spectrum, left-wing voters in the city of Ózd have no trouble supporting the radical right, Dull notes.
Mandiner’s Ákos Gergely Balogh contends that the Ózd result suggests that Fidesz’ strategy to divide and rule the opposition may not work in the long run. The centrist pundit suspects that left-wing voters were determined to vote against the Fidesz candidate at any price, even if this implied that they had to support the far-right candidate. While this is an important and bitter lesson for the Left, it cannot be taken for granted that the opposition will remain fragmented forever, Balogh concludes.