Left-wing pundits maintain that the new alliance is the only possible hope to challenge PM Orbán, albeit a rather slender one. Pro-government columnists consider the deal as proof that the left lacks ideas. READ MORE
Liberal columnists are highly sceptical about a new opposition pact which incorporates Ferenc Gyurcsány into Gordon Bajnai and Attila Mesterházy’s alliance. Some blame leading progressive intellectuals for interfering with the political process. In a lone optimistic column, a political analyst linked to the Socialist Party suggests that all is not yet lost.
Left-wing dailies express mixed emotions over the new opposition pact, fearing that time is too short to reach out to potential voters. A pro-government commentator thinks that by embracing Mr Gyurcsány as their future partner, Socialist Party chairman Attila Mesterházy and Together-2014 leader Gordon Bajnai have given up their quest for something different to the pre-2010 system of government. READ MORE
The leading leftist daily deplores the main players’ reluctance to revise their electoral pact, and hopes that their announcement has not come too late. The main pro-government daily is less charitable and points out that after so much ado, the leading left-wing candidate for the Premier’s post has yet to be picked. READ MORE
A left-wing daily welcomes Bajnai’s move as a new chance to beat Orbán with joint candidates and a coordinated campaign – a much-needed boost for opposition morale. READ MORE
In their first post-new-year’s-day analyses of the electoral landscape, most columnists consider Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party the likely winner of the next elections, although a left-wing commentator suspects that the opposition constituency is underrepresented by the opinion polls. READ MORE
Various commentators – including even some who otherwise deem the government’s performance appalling – believe that the opposition hardly stands a chance at the elections scheduled for next spring. READ MORE
A new centrist internet opinion site thinks Ferenc Gyurcsány is unlikely to be welcomed in the opposition alliance although he does offer a clear liberal vision. The leading left-wing daily agrees: Gyurcsány does not seem to understand that the Socialists never back down under external pressure. READ MORE
A pro-government daily describes Socialist Party chairman Attila Mesterházy as a leader who is unable to get rid of “the shades of the past”, including two of his predecessors, as well as Mr Gyurcsány and Mr Bajnai. READ MORE
Right-wing commentators concentrate their fire on Bajnai and Gyurcsány, and tend to consider Mesterházy as the victim of the aforementioned. Left wing analysts have begun to voice serious doubts about whether the Socialists and their allies are in a position to even successfully wage a campaign. READ MORE