Christmas comes early for Hungarian opposition

October 14, 2019 7:44 AM

Frustrated by the dismantling of democratic norms and by increasingly transparent racism and authoritarianism, Hungarian voters dealt a major blow to Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, unifying behind single opposition candidate Gergely Karácsony to retake the office of mayor in Budapest, along with wins that give them 10 of Hungary's 23 largest mayorships and 13 of Budapest's districts.
posted by DirtyOldTown (14 comments total)

For context, Budapest represents roughly a fifth the population of the entire country

Comrade Doll insisted I use this FPP title, as Gergely Karácsony's name literally translates as "Greg Christmas."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:46 AM on October 14, 2019 [23 favorites]

Nice to hear. All I heard from major "News" was "Ruling Party gets four more years" and such.
posted by aleph at 7:49 AM on October 14, 2019

This is a bit like if the GOP controlled four out of every five political offices in Illinois and in one weekend the Democratic Party took the mayor's offices in Chicago, Champaign, Carbondale, Rockford, Joliet, Waukegan... They don't have the majority, but they've seized a huge chunk of power.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:56 AM on October 14, 2019 [10 favorites]

Maybe not the absolutely Stupidest Timeline then.

Well played, that city.
posted by flabdablet at 8:00 AM on October 14, 2019 [3 favorites]

In contrast, in neighbouring Poland, the populist ultra-Catholic reactionary PiS party (last seen stacking the judiciary and declaring towns LGBT-free zones) consolidated its majority. Though if this is the beginning of the end for Fidesz, it could cause problems for them (they and Fidesz have a mutual-defence pact to veto attempts at censuring either of them in the EU).
posted by acb at 8:35 AM on October 14, 2019 [8 favorites]

I know nothing about the current mood or thought processes of Hungarian voters, but I wonder if its possible that the alignment of all the ethnonationalist autocrats of the world along Russian interests is...starting to concern anyone over there. For a while, you could estimate the general popularity of any politician, celebrity, or company based on how anti-Soviet they were.
posted by grandiloquiet at 10:08 AM on October 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

Viktor Kazai on Verfassungsblog has some additional context for those seeking it. To summarize, while this is a major achievement -- handing Fidesz its first significant electoral defeat in 9 years -- its practical impact will not be as great as it would have been before Fidesz gutted the powers of local government.
posted by Not A Thing at 10:33 AM on October 14, 2019 [6 favorites]

Congratulations to the Hungarians! I hope this symbolic victory means that the tide is turning.

The opposition in Poland has to console themselves that after four years of prosperity and rising social spending, not to mention government propaganda blasted through state tv and radio channels, the ruling party did not win the supermajority or the 3/5 needed to override the president's veto. What's more, they lost the Senate - although this will only slow down the passing of bad laws, as rejecting amendments and overturning vetoes of the Senate requires only simple majority.
posted by hat_eater at 11:12 AM on October 14, 2019 [4 favorites]

PiS, the supposedly "patriotic" party that has so little faith in the strength of Poland as a country that it thinks a few hundred Syrian refugees and a small handful of gay people can destroy the entire republic. I hate them so much, but someone had to pull all those levers to vote them back in.
posted by 1adam12 at 11:13 AM on October 14, 2019 [4 favorites]

Let us hope this turning of the tide continues and spreads around the world in the next few years!
posted by Bee'sWing at 4:45 PM on October 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

.....If memory serves, the very very first thing that touched off the end of the Cold War and the dismantling of the Iron Curtain was when Hungary took down its border fence between Hungary and Austria and started letting Iron-Curtain refugees start slipping over the border into the West.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:42 PM on October 14, 2019

GOOD for the Hungarians. Polish presidentials next year, so fingers very crossed for voting out Mr Pudding, especially since PiS are completely out of money for further giveaways to the populace and the health service in particular is falling apart for lack of funding.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 11:53 PM on October 14, 2019 [2 favorites]

I claim sanctuary The people getting the majority of PiS' largess don't seem to notice the huge austerity program that's coming up right behind!
posted by 1adam12 at 11:58 AM on October 15, 2019 [2 favorites]

Karácsony announces that he plans to increase cooperation with liberal mayors in Warsaw and other Central European cities, and to ask the Central European University to keep as many courses as possible in Budapest.
posted by acb at 8:23 AM on October 17, 2019 [5 favorites]