Can Budapest's mayor pose a real challenge to Orbán?
Budapest's left-wing mayor Gergely Karácsony has launched a bid to become the lead candidate of a coalition of opposition parties aimed at unseating Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. To this end he announced the establishment of Alliance 99 (the 99 stands for 99 percent of the citizens). Hungary's main opposition parties on the left and right had already decided last year to run together against Orbán's Fidesz, which has been in power since 2010, in the 2022 parliamentary elections.
99 percent? Nothing but lies!
The pro-government daily Magyar Nemzet doesn't believe Orbán's system is disadvantageous for the majority:
“That's pure nonsense, and borrowed nonsense at that. We've already seen it in the US, Spain and Slovakia, and everywhere it has been used to exploit envy and social tensions. Moreover, the claim that 99 percent of Hungarians have not benefited at all in the past ten years is simply not true.”
This could be the last chance
Népszava is optimistic in view of the fact that Karácsony's goal is not revenge:
“Reasonable people in Hungary want neither a cold nor a hot civil war. Perhaps this is the last chance for the country to stop the right-wing revolution in an election and return to democratic Europe in a Fourth Republic.”
Left-wing but not system-critical
The left-leaning media outlet Mérce calls for the alliance to be supported despite reservations:
“The programme of this movement is social-democratic, meaning it is left-wing but not system-critical. ... There is still a long way to go before a truly relevant left-wing political force emerges in Hungary. ... However, this experiment deserves our attention and critical support.”