January 13th, 2018
As President Áder announces the date of the 2018 Parliamentary election, a pro-government and a conservative liberal columnist both anticipate a rude and tough electoral camapaign.
On Thurday, President János Áder announced that the 2018 Parliamentary election will take place on Sunday 8 April.
In Magyar Idők, Ferenc Kis believes that the main challenger to the Fidesz government in this election will be George Soros and his network rather than the weak and fragmented opposition parties. The pro-government commentator suspects that George Soros will launch a campaign against Fidesz through his network of NGOs in and outside Hungary. The Hungarian Soros-network will foment hysteria or even accuse the government of rigging the election, while Soros allies in Europe whose main aim is to weaken nation states will pressurise the Hungarian government and criticize its migration policies, Kis ruminates. In conclusion, he anticipates a very rude and tough electoral campaign.
Magyar Nemzet’s Bence Pintér likens the 2018 election to the first democratic election in 1990. The conservative liberal columnist claims that as in the historical ballot twenty-eight years ago, the future of democracy is at stake. Although he sees the political field as being uneven and believes that Fidesz dominates the media as well as key economic positions, he acknowledges that voters in 2018 can get information from independent sources and make a choice. Pintér accuses the pro-government media of preparing to use ‘all dirty tricks’ and focus on migration and target George Soros in its campaign, in order to divert attention from opposition themes like corruption, centralization of decision-making and the poor state of the health care system.
Tags: 2018, Áder, campaign
