Botka sees traitors in his own party

A left-wing analyst predicts that the MSZP frontrunner is waging a losing battle against his unruly fellow Socialists and his failure might signal the demise of the whole party.

On Sztárklikk, a left-liberal ‘tabloid’ site, Zoltán Ceglédi predicts that Mr Botka, the MSZP candidate for Prime Minister at next year’s elections, cannot defeat the inner circle of his party’s leaders who disagree with his policy. Mr Botka in fact wants to strengthen the MSZP at the expense of the competing left-liberal forces and rejects any form of co-operation with DK leader Ferenc Gyurcsány. In a fresh interview with 168 Óra, Botka said he would not tolerate ‘collaborationism’ (with Fidesz) or treason within the MSZP. He mentioned Zsolt Molnár as an example. Mr Molnár, a member of the MSZP Presidium urged his party to work for a broad alliance of left-liberal opposition forces, including the Democratic Coalition. Czeglédy warns that Molnár is not alone in the Presidium with his views, and that by sticking to his anti-Gyurcsány stance, Botka is running ‘head first into the wall’. On the other hand, Ceglédi bitterly remarks, no party deserves to survive if it kills its own top candidate nine months before an election. If the Socialist Party wants to jump from a highrise, he concludes, ‘let it go and we’ll see if it can fly’.

Tags: Molnár