Election in Hungary: Anti-Mainstream Parties Are Back in Parliament
None of that happened. Rather, as the April 6 election returns show, Jobbik has become a long-term participant in Hungarian politics. They neither gained much support nor lost any. Initially outsiders, they became more predictable once in parliament. Jobbik worked hard to strengthen themselves in the Hungarian countryside. The 2014 parliamentary elections demonstrate their effectiveness in these rural precincts. Yet Jobbik’s successes there were only modest. It seems that there are vast regions of eastern and northern Hungary where Fidesz proved a much more appealing option to voters – often by large margins. While Jobbik failed to close the gap with Fidesz, the radical right proved stronger than the parties of the old left in many parts of the country – in the majority of the 88 voting districts in the Hungarian countryside, in fact. In Budapest, Jobbik remained relatively weak). A Jobbik candidate in the eastern city of Misolc came very close to winning the district outright.
Our other articles about the story of Jobbik and LMP:
But the leader and strategist of the party, András Schiffer, stayed true to LMP’s roots. This small political group became a kind of least-worst option for many who are dissatisfied with Hungary’s current political landscape. LMP remained weak in the countryside. But urban liberal voters fed up with the old left-liberal parties proved numerous enough to open the parliamentary doors to LMP. And so while Hungary’s old Socialists continue their seemingly inexorable electoral slide, their seats fill with representatives from anti-mainstream parties on the far right and far left. Fortunately, in the center, Fidesz will continue to be a stabilizing force.
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