A liberal weekly suggests it should not have come as a surprise that Lungo Drom activists drove Roma voters to the booths. A pro-government columnist, on the other hand, finds the allegation the apogee of a smear campaign that is a small-scale rehearsal for the real thing in 2014. READ MORE
Left-leaning weeklies think it will be extremely difficult for the Socialists and their allies to match the governing right wing. They accuse Fidesz of smart but unfair campaign methods. READ MORE
A pro-government pundit thinks left-wing opinion leaders don’t understand how politics works when they urge competing left-wing leaders to agree on how to share power and candidates for next year’s elections. READ MORE
Left-wing commentators hope the agreement will put an end to destructive rivalry within the Left; liberal pundits are sceptical; professional analysts think Bajnai must now prove his ability to attract undecided voters if he wants the alliance to have a chance, while pro-government columnists are divided on whether or not the government can now lean back and consider next year’s election a mere formality. READ MORE
In their first reactions to the agreement suddenly clinched by opposition leaders after a painful clash last week (see BudaPost, August 26 and 27), left-wing commentators are cautiously optimistic about the chances of the new alliance. READ MORE
Commentators and analysts ponder whether a left-wing election alliance is still possible after negotiations between the MSZP and Together 2014 stalled and a bitter dispute erupted between the party leaders. READ MORE
A pro-government commentator suggests that, weak as the left-wing opposition may seem, it would be too early to take its defeat at next year’s elections for granted. READ MORE
A left-wing analyst thinks efforts to forge an opposition coalition have failed so far and urges all “’democratic anti-Fidesz forces” to come up with a left-liberal-green vision for the post-Orbán era. READ MORE
An independent conservative blogger believes the proliferation of political parties in Hungary is due to the narcissism of Hungarian political leaders, rather than to any significant political differences. READ MORE
A popular political analyst suggests that the opposition is too busy settling its own internal rivalries to successfully counter the government’s public relations offensive and to increase its own rating. READ MORE