Opposition to boycott the quota referendum

A conservative and a left-wing analyst equally lambast the main left-wing opposition parties for calling on their followers to boycott the referendum on migrant quotas.

In Magyar Nemzet, Eszter Petronella Soós calls the stance adopted by the left-wing parties suicidal. In their coordinated campaign the Socialist Party and the Democratic Coalition both call on their voters to “stay at home and stay in Europe”, and Soós asks what will happen if, as expected, the majority vote “no” – and thus reject the compulsory migrant quotas? Will the left-wing parties say that the electorate reject the European Union? In more general terms she thinks the main problem of the left is that they only focus on PM Orbán and his ‘régime’, rather than offering alternatives. In the case of the referendum they should simply tell their supporters to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

In Népszava, Szabolcs Szunyogh also believes that the call for abstention sends the wrong message. It either means that ‘we are too weak to have it our way’ or that ‘we basically agree with the government but can’t say so’. In both cases, he predicts, the Left will lose ‘and feel ashamed about it’.

Tags: migration, quotas, referendum