MSZP’s self-confidence may backfire
Friday, June 29th, 2012A popular analyst suggests Fidesz may profit from the self-assurance Socialist leaders have been exhibiting lately as a result of recent trends in party preferences. READ MORE
Socialists propose ‘positive census’
Friday, June 22nd, 2012Commenting on an MSZP proposal to introduce mandatory voting, Róbert Friss in Népszabadság fears that rewarding active voters would neither help to roll back populism nor increase democratic legitimacy. READ MORE
May 2012: a tilt in the polls?
Friday, June 8th, 2012A popular political analyst believes if elections were held today, the outcome would be uncertain – for the first time since 2010. READ MORE
The Orbán government’s mid-term balance sheet
Monday, June 4th, 2012Commentators assessing the Orbán government’s performance in its first two years in office all agree that Fidesz has not yet fulfilled its promises. But while left-wing pundits believe it is the fault of the Prime Minister”s mistaken policies, right-wing columnists blame former Socialist governments and international organizations for causing Hungary so many problems. READ MORE
Socialist leaders criticised for boycotting presidential inauguration
Friday, May 18th, 2012A leading left-wing commentator praises President János Áder’s inauguration address and scolds leading MSZP (Socialist Party) officials who collectively refused to attend the ceremony. READ MORE
Bipolar party system is likely to stay
Friday, April 27th, 2012A centrist analyst suggests that two years after the last election, no major realignment of the party system appears to be in sight, and the next election will be dominated once again, he believes, by the governing centre-right Fidesz and the Socialists – the same parties which have been competing for power since 1998. READ MORE
The LMP’s failed quest for a referendum
Friday, April 6th, 2012A friendly columnist believes that the failure of the LMP to gather the 200 thousand signatures for their referendum project was a defeat for the left-wing opposition as a whole. READ MORE
A former insider on the race for the MSZP presidency
Monday, March 26th, 2012A prominent aide to former PM Ferenc Gyurcsány finds it strange that both candidates running for the top post of the Socialist Party were State Secretaries under Gyurcsány, yet are using anti-Gyurcsány rhetoric in their campaign. READ MORE
Liberal commentator on the weakness of the opposition
Friday, March 16th, 2012A liberal commentator deplores the fact that after almost two years of Fidesz rule, the national holiday of March 15 is being celebrated by a divided opposition, and that opposition groups have still not produced a credible alternative to PM Orbán’s government. READ MORE
Right-wing commentator disappointed by Hunvald’s mild sentence
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012A leading conservative analyst fears that the mild sentence handed down in György Hunvald’s trial is bound to strengthen populist stereotypes according to which the small thieves get caught while the bigger ones get away with their crimes. READ MORE