April 29, 2002 - Hungarian taxpayers' body appeals to Supreme Court over residual votes

The Association of Those Persecuted by APEH [tax office] has appealed to the Supreme Court because it objects to the decision taken by the National Election Committee [OVB] on Friday [26 April] on the issue of residual votes. According to the organization the OVB - we quote - took its decision in the crossfire of political attacks, and this left its mark on the outcome.The committee [OVB] had rejected the submission filed by the law student from Pecs [in southern Hungary], Sandor Vecsernyes, according to which the residual votes obtained in the first round of the elections are lost if a candidate for deputy withdraws in the second round.The OVB had judged that according to the legal regulations, the residual votes obtained in the first round go not to the individual candidate but to the party which makes the nomination.

Source: Hungarian Radio, Budapest, in Hungarian 0600 gmt 29 Apr 02

April 28, 2002 - Hungarian institute says Socialists won elections "through losing" BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom;

The Hungarian Political Capital Institute has said that if the Hungarian election campaign had lasted longer, the incumbent senior centre-right government party, Fidesz, would have been able to reverse its first-round election defeat. The Socialists "won through losing", and with the centre-right's partial come-back after the first round, Hungary might now face having its "most unsure and least stable government" since 1990. The institute added that the Socialists had made strategic mistakes by failing to mobilize their own voters, not showing strength, hiding their prime ministerial candidate Peter Medgyessy and not countering Fidesz's campaign in the provinces. The following is the text of a report by Krisztian Szabados, senior analyst at the Political Capital Institute: "The Losing Winner", published by the Hungarian newspaper Nepszabadsag web site on 26 April:

It depended on a few days that the opposition did not lose the elections. Had Fidesz [Federation of Young Democrats] been able to continue its campaign a little longer, it would surely have been able to turn around the first round results - at least this is the opinion of the Political Capital Institute.

The MSZP [Hungarian Socialist Party] won through losing. Following the surprise Socialist victory in the first round, the Fidesz-MDF [Hungarian Democratic Forum] alliance managed to partially reverse the situation. This means that the most unsure and least stable government of the period since the change of the regime can now be set up in Hungary in a few weeks. It could also have happened another way.

[Prime Minister] Viktor Orban announced his party's new campaign at the University of Physical Education on 9 April. Fidesz staked everything on one card: The panic campaign seemed like a risky enterprise because it could easily have backfired, causing more damage than good. For it to be successful, Fidesz needed one thing, namely the MSZP. The hasty and hurriedly improvised negative campaign was only able to work because the Socialists did not understand its main meaning and, therefore, could not find the antidote to it. As so many times before, Fidesz again could rely on the MSZP's lack of routine and inability to communicate.

The MSZP made strategic mistakes basically in four areas, and this cost them the independent parliamentary majority: They did not mobilize their own voters, did not show strength, again "hid" [MSZP prime minister candidate] Peter Medgyessy, and did not work against the Fidesz's "provinces" campaign.

After the announcement of the Fidesz's negative campaign, the MSZP correctly reacted by simplifying the voters' decision to the choice between "war or peace." [MSZP Chairman] Laszlo Kovacs was virtually alone in representing this message but, after a few days, even he only kept the "peace" part of it. Kovacs abandoned the constant emphasis on "Fidesz = war" in his statements. The opposition was deluding itself with the belief that the election "madness" generated by the Fidesz would automatically backfire and the opposition had nothing else to do but to sit back and watch the right wing's kamikaze action. Although the "counter-campaign," the image of politicians having coffee with Arpad Goencz, is attractive, this will not convince the undecided or not primarily Socialist supporter voters to line up at the voting booths and vote for a change of the government. The opposition voters were not mobilized.

Fidesz's campaign only had two elements between the two rounds of elections that were unusual for major parties to use as European or American political campaign techniques, namely the monopolization of our national symbol (rosette in national colours) and the attack on foreign investors (Orban's speech about the international money capital). All the others can be seen as accepted campaign measures, including the active inclusion of voters in the campaign and "taking politics to the streets." "The elections have to be won at the voting booths, rather than in the streets," Peter Medgyessy said. He was wrong. A successful election campaign also needs mass demonstrations. The demonstration of the Democratic Charter in 1994, the demonstration against the Boes water barrage system in 1998, and the rally in protest against Laszlo Koever's speech about hanging oneself significantly influenced the outcome of the elections.

With the 13 April mass rally at Kossuth Square, in addition to showing strength, Fidesz also successfully occupied the "peace side" of communications: The party's negative campaign was supplemented with the messages of "love" and "unity" and, in fact, it was Fidesz, rather than the opposition, who organized the peaceful march with torches. The opposition deliberately did not organize street demonstrations although its voters would have much needed it. This is also supported by the many thousands-strong crowd who gathered in front of Gerbeaud [in Budapest city centre] on 14 April: The voters whose goal was to replace the government wanted the show themselves. The timing of the only opposition demonstration, namely the 19 April festival to replace the government, was mistaken. Due to the campaign recess, the press could not report on the masses that turned up or about the speeches. And the commercial news channels' few minutes long reports are not enough to get people to "talk about" a campaign event or for the political messages to reach the public's threshold of response.

In addition to failing to mobilize the opposition voters, the MSZP also failed to demonstrate its strength. Every day, Fidesz formulated yet new charges against the MSZP. The Socialists went into defence and their only answer was: "It is not true." They failed to reverse the right-wing charges ("we will not only maintain the student loan, we will even reduce the interest," and so on) and to launch a counterattack (alone Kovacs tried to do this but one person was not enough). The opposition voters did not get guidance from their party about how to deal with their bitterness about the Fidesz's aggressive campaign. However, there would have been room for a well-organized counter-campaign beside the "peace campaign." Just as the panic campaign and the emphasis of love and unity went side by side in Fidesz's communications.

Parallel with this, while Fidesz gave a chance of victory to its voters early on, the MSZP deprived its voters of the joy of victory. After the Tuesday evening Orban speech, the government voters started again to be confident and enthusiastic, but the opposition voters did not get any impulses from the MSZP about the meaning of election victory, what the new government would do, and to what extent the new Hungary would be different from the earlier one. Fidesz controlled common talk all along while the MSZP gave the impression of a reacting, defensive, and powerless party. Two weeks before the elections the Socialist politicians, who were busying themselves with allocating the ministerial and state secretarial seats and with rivalry with each other, virtually stopped their national campaign.

Finally, the MSZP made the same mistake as in February, namely it sent its prime ministerial candidate to conduct the campaign in the provinces, thus "removing" him from the national media. The two are not at all mutually exclusive, as was shown by Orban. After the first round victory, the public was most interested in the new prime minister and the media gave Medgyessy almost unlimited space. However, the Socialists did not use this opportunity. Medgyessy's passiveness was also necessary for Orban to become the main player although he was only interesting as a second choice. Between 8 and 19 April, Medgyessy only managed to get into the main headlines on seven days, and five of these were on the side of other politicians ([Alliance of Free Democrats Chairman] Gabor Kuncze, Laszlo Kovacs, [Budapest Mayor] Gabor Demszky, Arpad Goncz). In contrast, Orban appeared in the media headlines eight times, and independently. In the two weeks, Orban visited 17 settlements that were either undecided or where the government had virtually no chance, while Medgyessy only visited nine provincial areas. Medgyessy either spoke about marginal issues or only to a specific target audience, while Orban spoke simply and clearly to the whole country. All along, Fidesz addressed the voters in the provinces rather than Budapest. The MSZP had no message for these voters at all. The MSZP's silence strengthened Fidesz's voice and gave credence to its charges.

The Socialists were presumably anxious about Medgyessy talking to journalists, because they considered him inexperienced and a bad communicator. This was a mistake. On one hand, the interview in the 18 April Current Issues programme showed that Medgyessy could communicate when he was prepared. On the other hand, from the campaign trips in the provinces, one has to send brief, assertive, and clear messages, which are not difficult for a politician to say. However, to do this, it is necessary for this politician to be able to concentrate on his voters, rather than on the internal power struggle within his party.

[Source: Népszabadság]

April 25, 2002 - Socialists celebrate

By Fraser Allan

The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) look set to form the next Government following a narrow victory over the governing Fidesz-Hungarian Democratic Forum (Fidesz-MDF) in the final round of the general election on Sunday.

A record 73.47% of registered voters turned out to give the MSZP 178 parliamentary seats and the SZDSZ 19 and one joint MSZP-SZDSZ seat, against the Fidesz-MDF coalition's total of 188.

Shortly after the final results were announced late on Sunday evening, MSZP Prime Ministerial candidate Péter Medgyessy and MSZP President László Kovács gave a delighted reaction from the MSZP's headquarters.

"Well, we won that one," said a smiling Medgyessy, adding "It was really the Hungarian voters who won.

"I want to thank them for the large turnout, their calm behavior and the faith they have put in the MSZP and the SZDSZ.

"In Hungary there are 10 million people who are important regardless of whom they voted for.

" Medgyessy all but confirmed the MSZP's intention to form a coalition Government with the SZDSZ.

"Tomorrow morning we will start work and begin coalition negotiations," he said.

SZDSZ leader Gábor Kuncze, speaking from his local constituency in Szigetszentmiklós - which he won over the Fidesz-MDF following the withdrawal of the Socialist candidate in his favor - said, "Our main goal has been accomplished - we have achieved our target of changing the Government."

Kuncze added that it was the intention of the centrist SZDSZ to cooperate with the MSZP, and ruled out any possibility of SZDSZ striking a deal with the Fidesz-MDF.

"It is important that liberal politics should be present and have proper representation in Parliament, and I would announce that in 2002 the SZDSZ cannot imagine any cooperation with Fidesz," he said.

"We have won this election but are not entirely happy," Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said.

"The scale has been tipped away from a civic world towards a Socialist world," he continued.

Orbán offered congratulations to Medgyessy, and said he had telephoned the Socialist candidate to give the message personally.

Orbán continued by reaffirming his commitment to the ethnic Hungarians in neighboring countries.

"Hungary's strength does not lies in a Hungary of 10 million people as has been said at another party's headquarters, but in a Hungarian nation of 15 million people," he said.

Fidesz President Zoltán Pokorni remained defiant, claiming the election was by no means decided.

"We cannot know what could happen after we have a full overview of any voting irregularities or fraud.

"Nobody can yet say they know who the winner is," he said.

MDF President Ibolya Dávid admitted the contest had been lost, and hinted at a change in the relationship between the MDF and Fidesz.

"The tense atmosphere of the campaign, which was not always conducted in a sportsmanlike manner, is over.

"With the kind of faction the MDF will establish, that will be decided when Parliament next convenes.

"The MDF will make decisions which will benefit the nation. All we can say is that the civic coalition is not the same as it was a month ago."

After hearing the results, Mádl thanked all who had taken part in organizing and participating in the elections, and said he would immediately enter into discussion with the parties over the formation of the next administration.

"My obligation is now to make a recommendation as to who the next Prime Minister will be as soon as possible," the President said.

[Source: Budapestsun]

April 25, 2002 - Elections that shook us all - Opinion

By Andrea Szabó

There is a saying in Hungary that to change a nation politically may take six days, to change its economy may take six months, but to change its way of thinking may take as long as 60 years.

This is probably one of the reasons why Hungarians experienced a spell of such negative campaigning from both the Government and the opposition parties during this election. It included an intensive, negative "whispering campaign" that had a very strong effect on the final outcome. It came from both sides.

In the first round of the Parliamentary elections on April 7 the liberal-left Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) won by a slim margin, ahead of the center-right Fidesz Civic Party and Democratic Forum (MDF) alliance.

However the margin was so slim it drove the politicians to strive for better results in the second round and led to the behavior of both Government and opposition parties at their political rallies really getting out of hand.

Perhaps for the first time the political battle did not shy away from going into workplaces, hospitals and schools. Even kindergartens were not exempt.

Outsiders might have imagined this could have been the case during the Communist era of 40 years, but they hardly expected anything of the like to occur in the democratic Hungary of the 21st century.

This was something new and surprising to even the natives, for Hungarians have generally been peaceful and tolerant over the last 12 years, provoking each other only verbally. Never has the situation slipped out-of-hand as it did this time.

Unlike in the latest elections, there has never really been physical blows between voters, even if they didn't agree with each other. Hungarians' behavior during elections had proved to be the most responsible in the region.

Ironically, Fidesz behaved as though it was in opposition, while the MSZP pre-maturely behaved like it was in Government.

Last week at a rally in Paks, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said he believed that, should the Socialists win, they would sell the nation's sole nuclear power station at a grave risk to the nation (the plant produces almost 40% of the population's electricity).

But Péter Medgyessy, Prime Minister designate for the MSZP, said that in Parliament last year when the MSZP wanted to pass a proposal that the nuclear power station never be sold, it was actually Fidesz that did not vote in favor.

(In the second round of the election, three days after Orbán's speech, the Fidesz-MDF alliance won 55.68% of the votes in Paks, with the MSZP losing on 44.32%.)

After the first round it was still very uncertain who the ultimate winner would be and the fact that the campaigning which followed became very aggressive went to show that both parties knew the stakes were high.

Although all party leaders personally met with Ferenc Mádl, President of the Republic, and pledged a clean fight, they used some of the most unorthodox means to attack each other where they could.

One should not criticize the President, but although there was a consensus on his appointment, the parties on the left have not felt he was "their" President. Mádl is known for his strong ties to the outgoing "civic" Government.

But, despite this, there is only one President and Mádl should be treated with the utmost respect and his word should be law in the political realm.

Theoretically Mádl still has an important role to play. Following the elections even the party with the most mandates would not be allowed to form the new Government unless the President agreed.

The stakes have been high because the parties knew that the winner of the election would lead Hungary into the European Union, probably in 2004 or 2005.

They also knew that, after joining the EU, the nation will be in such an "EU-phoric" mood that the voters may automatically put the same Government into power for another term.

Therefore the outright winners of this election could easily be in power for eight years and not just four. Taking Hungary into the EU will also mean prestige and a place in the history books.

As in all political situations, the ruling party was afraid to give up its power. This was understandable in the case of Fidesz as it was compelled to collaborate (with the Smallholders (FKGP) and the MDF) during the 1998 elections to secure its position as the senior Government party. There was no other way.

However the FKGP, which scored 12% in the 1998 elections, blew it this time around. The party didn't even obtain 1% in the first round (the minimum requirement to obtain Parliamentary representation is 5%).

Some analysts called Fidesz's treatment of the FKGP "the salami tactic", implying that the Smallholders had been split up by Fidesz by means including promises to secure seats for certain members in the coming Parliament.

However this disintegration would most likely not have occurred had József Torgyán, President of the FKGP, not behaved as party leader supreme and turned other members against him.

On the other hand, Fidesz's remaining coalition partner the MDF is grateful for Fidesz's role in securing it a position in the new Parliament and readily entered into an alliance.

MDF President Ibolya Dávid, often cited by the media as the nation's most popular politician, may have to settle for a role behind the scenes.

Earlier in the year Fidesz politically built upon the expectation that Dávid would win votes from conservative voters that it could not collect.

But the plan floundered after Dávid took part in a television debate with István Csurka (far-right Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIÉP) President), Gábor Kuncze (Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) President) and László Kovács (MSZP President).

The moderate conservative perception of Dávid was shattered within an hour.

During the debate Dávid used hostile tactics generally displayed by more radical politicians. She was unable to control her behavior and style, something always expected of the most popular politician.

The debate was a time for real thought and prompt answers, but Dávid was not able to maintain her image using her vague approach.

Here she was unable to say things like "I don't know much about soccer," as she did when confronted with anti-Semitic remarks made by a member of MIÉP when the national soccer team Ferencváros was bought by owners of Jewish origin.

This debate left her with little credit. In her own constituency in the first round of the election Dávid performed poorly against her main Socialist rival. She was unable to achieve even a 20% lead over her rival as had earlier been expected from someone of her caliber.

Perhaps this was one of reasons why the remaining Government parties then panicked about securing as many votes as they could, forgetting all self-discipline.

But the most important result of this year's election was that all parties realized that they can no longer afford to make similar mistakes to those of the past.

The winning parties now understand that they will face strong opposition.

It is also very important to note that there will be four and not three parties in Parliament, as the MDF has said it wants to set up its own faction.

MDF could be a blackmail threat to Fidesz, but this is very unlikely as the MDF owes Fidesz a big favor. The MDF would never have made it into Parliament had Fidesz not put them there.

Contrary to much comment that former Communists are now back in power, it seems that voters have shown new confidence and don't identify the new leadership of the MSZP with the former Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP), or the MSZP of 1998, but rather consider them as members of a reform circle.

Hopefully, after such divisive elections, politicians will realize that what happened was merely a change of Government.

Source: Budapestsun

2002. April 23

Former Hungary star dies at 37- Former Hungary international defender Tibor Simon died on Tuesday from brain injuries sustained in a nightclub brawl last weekend, local media reported.

Simon, who had recently taken over as coach at first division Sopron, had been in a coma in a Budapest hospital since late Sunday. He was 37.

A police spokeswoman said earlier that two men had been detained over the incident which occurred outside a Budapest club. Simon won 16 international caps while with Hungary's leading club, Ferencvaros.

[Source: Reuters]