Democracy News

Hungarian Right Gains in Parliamentary Elections
April 14, 2010
By: Benjamin Russell | Printer Friendly

Far and center-right parties made significant gains in the latest round of parliamentary elections in Hungary.  The moderate right-wing Fidesz party, led by former prime minister Viktor Orban, gained control of the parliament with 52.8% of the vote. The ruling Socialist Party earned 19.3% of the vote, followed by the Jobbik party with 16.7%.

While the Fidesz gains followed trends toward the right in much of Europe, it is the success of the far-right Jobbik party - and its anti-Roma and anti-Semitic rhetoric - that has troubled observers, according to the New York Times.  Hungary's largest Jewish organization warned that the vote was "the first occasion that a movement pursuing openly anti-Semitic policies" has taken a step to power in Hungary since the Nazi era.

Jobbik has campaigned to drop free-market IMF reforms and to revive the gendarmerie to police the country's Roma minority.  Party members have also railed against Jewish influence and investment in the country, according to Der Spiegel.  The most recent cover of the party magazine featured local patron St. Gellért atop the Budapest hill named after him, holding a menorah over the city instead of a cross with the caption, “Is this what you want?”

Hungary was hard hit by the financial crisis, and though the economy has stabilized, many in the country feel alienated from the political system.   “The party has played on the country’s sense of wounded pride to make Roma and Jews the scapegoats for everything that has gone wrong, even if many Jobbik voters have never even seen a Jew,” said Pal Tamas, a leading sociologist at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest

Economists fear that the influence of the Jobbik could “undermine the country’s economic recovery by alienating already jittery investors, spooking credit agencies and making it harder for the country’s next prime minister to shepherd the economy,” according to the Telegraph.

Run-off elections in districts where no candidate won more than 50% of the vote are scheduled for April 25.
 
Sources:

Der Spiegel – Hungary Prepares for Shift in Power

New York Times – Hungarian Right, Center and Far, Make Gains

Telegraph – First Step to Power for far-Right since Nazi Era