Vona describes Jobbik as ‘the last bastion of democracy’
December 30th, 2017As Jobbik leader Gábor Vona claims that his party is the ‘last bastion of democracy’, a pro-government commentator accuses him of pure opportunism. A left-wing blogger also dismisses the idea that Mr Vona would in any way be a defender of democracy.
In an interview with the Austrian daily Die Presse, Jobbik leader Gábor Vona claimed that he is the “last bastion of democracy” in Hungary, and the one who can defeat PM Orbán’s party in the 2018 election. In the same interview, Mr. Vona added that Jobbik is “neither communist, nor fascist, nor national socialist, nor democratic”, and identified “ultraliberal” elites inside and outside Hungary as his main target. Mr Vona also accused the Orbán government of threatening democracy by attacking NGOs, weakening independent media and interfering in private ownership.
Magyar Idők’s Gyula Haraszti interprets Gábor Vona’s statements as proof of a Jobbik-Left alliance in the making, against the Orbán government. The pro-government commentator thinks that the Jobbik leader is sending increasingly confusing messages to the Hungarian public. At this point, voters must be totally clueless concerning Jobbik’s vision, Haraszti concludes.
In Kettős Mérce, András Jámbor dismisses Mr Vona’s claim that he is the last bastion of democracy. The alt-left blogger thinks that the Jobbik leader wants to position his party as a defender of democracy in order to woo left-wing votes. Far from being a democrat, Jámbor writes, Mr Vona is a puppet of the oligarch Lajos Simicska. A real democracy, should not be dominated by financial and media capital, he fulminates.