November 15th, 2017
Left-wing and liberal pundits accuse the government of creating an alternative reality. Pro-government commentators, on the other hand, think that the opposition lives in a bubble which prevents them from understanding the reasons behind the popularity of Fidesz.
Népszava’s Róbert Friss likens the vision implied in the speeches of Fidesz luminaries at the governing party’s congress (see BudaPost November 14) to Bolshevik as well as Nazi ideology. The left-wing columnist believes that Fidesz has created an alternative reality in order to veil the decline of the Hungarian economy and society. Friss suspects that everyday Hungarians have a very different view on the state of the nation than the party delegates at the Fidesz congress.
In Index, Attila Rovó thinks that PM Orbán has taken an anti-Western and illiberal turn because he has realized that Hungary cannot catch up with rich Western states in terms of welfare. The liberal commentator speculates that Fidesz anti-Western rhetoric is intended to suggest that Hungarians have nothing to envy in their Western counterparts.
Magyar Idők’s Ottó Gajdics agrees with the Prime Minister that Hungarian voters want to replace the opposition parties rather than the government. The pro-government pundit finds it peculiar that despite the clear Fidesz lead in opinion polls, the opposition parties still seem to believe that Hungarians want a new government. Gajdics finds it nauseating that what he calls the ‘cynical and hateful’ opposition parties use ‘demagogic and fear-mongering vocabulary’, in an attempt to downplay Hungary’s successes – and thereby harm Fidesz.
Writing in Magyar Hírlap, Dániel Kacsoh dismisses the Left’s criticism according to which the government’s popularity is explained only by its anti migration policies and its rhetoric. The pro-government analyst thinks that it is not the government that is creating an alternative reality, but rather the Left, who do not seem to realize that Hungarians are satisfied with the economic achievements of Fidesz. Kacsoh believes that the government’s determination to ‘put the national interest first’ and defend it from multinational companies as well as from what he calls ‘Brussels’, are the real reasons behind Fidesz popularity.
Tags: Fidesz, Orbán
