Hungarian Politics

[Tamas]

Every once in a while, Orban's wife is sent to tabloid papers on a PR mission, talking about their family life etc.

I have read a summary of her stories from the last few years, on account of a new 6 pages interview with her and her prestigious husband. Apart from more "innocent" stuff like not caring much for washing the dishes he messed up while cooking, or not knowing where the vacuum cleaner is, there are real gems:

-He is very grumpy to wake up, unless you tell him the new National Sport issue has arrived (daily sport newspaper). He has to be the first to read it, "one time, I ironed it before handing it to him"

-"Don't ask him anything while he is hungry"

-"Don't disturb him while he is playing cards"

-"Handle him with care after his team lost"

-He never lets his wife win. When they are (or, seeing Orban nowadays, were) out jogging, he pretends he is out of breath and struggling, so the wife would stay close and he could sprint her down before the end. Or that one time on a local ski competition she won he was second, and he had a separate female and male category created before the results were declared

-She also told a lovely story when they were in Paris in 1985 and Orban lost all their money on a cupgame in some outer city market.


And that, my ladies and gentlemen, is our Dear Leader.


Party unity continues to fall apart slowly by the way, the various minions in the press are sent against each other in a presently invisible struggle for position, probably for the 2nd place position behind Orban.

[alfred russel]

-He never lets his wife win. When they are (or, seeing Orban nowadays, were) out jogging, he pretends he is out of breath and struggling, so the wife would stay close and he could sprint her down before the end. Or that one time on a local ski competition she won he was second, and he had a separate female and male category created before the results were declared

That story is awesome.

[Sheilbh]

Tamas. Thoughts? Explanations?

FIDESZ HOLDS NARROW LEAD OVER JOBBIK AS PARTY SUPPORT STAGNATES IN HUNGARY
2015-04-23 | pollpollster
Support for Hungary's political parties remained around the same levels in the past month, with ruling Fidesz in the lead with 21% support, unchanged for the third month in a row, the pollster Ipsos said. The radical nationalist Jobbik party had 17% of support in March, down from 18% in February. Support for the opposition Socialists dropped from 12% in February to 11% in March in the whole sample, the poll said. The opposition LMP party picked up 5% of support in March, its highest level so far during the current government. The leftist opposition Democratic Coalition stood on 3%, down from 4% , and Együtt had 1% . Among voters committed to a party, Fidesz led 38% to 27% against Jobbik, followed by 17% for the Socialists. LMP had 7%, DK 6% and Együtt 2% in this voter group, Ipsos said.

In a breakdown of voter support, Ipsos said Fidesz had 1.4 million core supporters and an additional 300,000 voters who were more loosely affiliated with the party. Fidesz's most committed voters are in the villages and in Budapest and in the older age groups, the poll said. Jobbik's core camp numbers 800,000, and the typical Jobbik voter is a man aged 40-50 who lives outside Budapest. Another 600,000 people are less firmly devoted to the party; they are mainly from lower social groups from Budapest. The Socialists have 650,000 core supporters and 250,000 potential supporters. The core supporter is in the 50 plus age group and lives in Budapest, Ipsos said.

via hungarymatters.hu and ipsos.hu photo: István Fazekas – hvg.hu

[Tamas]

Well, if you are a nationalistic voter of fidesz who got disillusioned, you have nowhere to turn but Jobbik. In the past decade Orban has destroyed whatever fledging beginnings the moderate right had, and kept radicalising his followers in an attempt to keep them together and to make sure even the most rabid ones vote fidesz instead of the nazis.

Now that strategy is starting to tragically backfire both for him and the country.

[Syt]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/29/hungary-pm-death-penalty-work-camps-for-immigrants-viktor-orban

Hungary PM: bring back death penalty and build work camps for immigrants

Rightwing nationalist Viktor Orbán threatens to defy EU law and launches anti-immigration manifesto calling for internment camps for illegal immigrants

Hungary's nationalist rightwing leader, Viktor Orbán, has threatened to reintroduce the death penalty, outlawed in the European Union.

The prime minister also reinforced his reputation as the EU's main maverick with a powerful anti-immigration manifesto that equates migrants with terrorists, says immigrants are taking Hungarians' jobs, recommends internment camps for illegal immigrants and states they should be forced to work.

A persistent critic of the EU, who holds up Russia's president Vladimir Putin as a model leader, Orbán responded to the murder of a woman in southern Hungary on Tuesday by calling for the reconsideration of draconian measures banned in the EU, which Hungary joined in 2004.

"The death penalty question should be put on the agenda in Hungary," he said. "Hungary will stop at nothing when it comes to protecting its citizens."

Hungary abolished the death penalty – after this was proscribed by the EU charter of fundamental rights – following the collapse of communism in 1989. The EU executive in Brussels said on Wednesday that moves to reinstate the death penalty could incur curbs on Hungary's EU rights and entitlements.

Orbán's Fidesz party is allied with Germany's governing Christian Democrats and other mainstream centre-right parties in the European parliament. There were calls on Wednesday for it to be expelled from the grouping.

A staunch critic of west European multiculturalism and of immigration, Orbán is also disseminating 8m "questionnaires" in Hungary to claim a mandate for his tough anti-immigration policies.

The 12 questions include:

"Do you agree that economic immigrants endanger the jobs and livelihoods of the Hungarian people?"

"Would you support the government placing illegal immigrants in internment camps?"

"Do you agree with the government that instead of allocating funds to immigration we should support Hungarian families and those children yet to be born?"

"Do you agree that mistaken immigration policies contribute to the spread of terrorism?"

Orbán's party enjoys a sweeping parliamentary majority but recently lost a byelection to the extreme-right Jobbik party. Analysts say Orbán is seeking to recoup support by veering towards the radical right.

[frunk]

says immigrants are taking Hungarians' jobs, recommends internment camps for illegal immigrants and states they should be forced to work.

So the problem is immigrants taking jobs from Hungarians, so the immigrants should be forced to have jobs?

That's....a way of looking at things.

[Tamas]

Well Jobbik is gaining on them, so they have decided to be more nazi even than Jobbik.

Plus this has been a tactic of theirs for the past year or so: they need time for their internal fights and crazy corruption projects, so they always throw in some inane shit for the public to chew on. Like how they ordered shops closed on Sunday for the exact same reason.

The death penalty thing is 100% academic since the EU won't let them reinstate it. But their henchmen are now filling the press with it.


A good argument I have read is that this, to raise radical issues they cannot actually "solve" is a strategic mistake, because it further elevates Jobbik's proposed issues as valid, yet the government is unable to solve them, so Jobbik becomes a more valid alternative, since they are more than happy to leave EU and NATO, join Russia, and start executing people.

[The Brain]

I have prepared a list...

[Martinus]

Speaking of Hungary, I read today that now that Denmark is recriminalising beastiality, the only countries in Europe that still permit it are Hungary, Finland and Romania. 

[Syt]

I find it interesting that he keeps raging against immigrants, when Hungary is one of the countries with the lowest %-ages of foreign citizens living within the country.



Then again, the anti-immigrant Pegida protests in Germany were strongest in Dresden which has one of the lowest foreign populations in Germany.

[Tamas]

But Syt that is EXACTLY why he talks about them: it is a very generous subject:

-this isn't a real issue
-most of the strict handling of illegals he proposes are already happening, but of course nobody knows, since see the first point
-Hungarians are in general quite xenophobic
-its not like the 2% foreigners most without the right to vote will actually cause a popularity backlash

[Martinus]

Hungarians seem like a really nasty bunch. I know that you guys collaborated with Hitler and such, but Swedes and Germans also did and they are not as awful any more.

[Tamas]

Hungarians seem like a really nasty bunch. I know that you guys collaborated with Hitler and such, but Swedes and Germans also did and they are not as awful any more.

Its far from all of us, really, and your country is the one who elected the Potato Twins, so have no room to talk.

[The Brain]

Hungarians seem like a really nasty bunch. I know that you guys collaborated with Hitler and such, but Swedes and Germans also did and they are not as awful any more.

[Valmy]

You immediately see which Baltic State gave its Russian minority citizenship.

I guess nobody wants to live in Poland.