Hungarian center-right sweeps elections

[Behind the Aegis]

Source: Associated Press

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
12/04/2010 03:19


Extreme right party third-largest on anti-Roma anti-Semitic sentiments.

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary's center-right party Fidesz reclaimed the right to govern on Sunday, winning over 50 percent of the vote and handing the ruling Socialists a humiliating defeat. Extreme rightists backed by black clad paramilitary troops took more than 15 percent to come in third.

While widely forecast, the strong gain of the extreme right Jobbik party represented the greatest political shake-up of the election, shattering Hungary's traditional post-communist status quo of a parliament dominated by the center right and the left.

Fidesz's landslide victory had been expected by pollsters and its result of 52.8 percent in the first round translated into 206 seats for now in the 386-seat legislature.

The governing Socialists, whom many Hungarians blame for their dismal economy, were far behind with 19.3 percent and 28 seats, followed closely by the far-right, anti-Gypsy Jobbik with 26 seats and 16.7 percent — over three times as much as any other far-right party since the country's return to democracy from communism in 1990.


Read more: http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=172889

[rockymountaindem]

1. Well it looks like the extremists got a large portion of the vote but it won't translate into many

seats. Proportionally they should have gotten 64 seats, so I guess Hungary doesn't use a PR system. Hopefully the economy will improve and they will turn out to be nothing more than a flash in the pan when people return to their senses.

[FarLeftFist]

2. Their RW'ers are our socialists

[BolivarianHero]

3. Good fucking riddance...

The "socialists" are more neo-liberal than right in Hungary.

Eastern European politics is FUCKED...Like in Romania the left is very authoritarian and socially conservative whereas the right is somewhat more liberal that way. I think the conflation of leftism/social-democracy with social and cultural liberalism is a phenomenon belonging to Canada and Western Europe rather than one that's universal.

[proteus_lives]

5. You can thank fifty years of state communism and Russia for that.

[Iowa]

6. Interesting point...

I don't know anything about Hungary or Romania, but we have friends from another country who visited awhile back, and it became clear very quickly that our "left", and their "left" were entirely different things. They feared and despised the left in their country. Yet they also despised GW Bush for many of the same reasons we did. The subtleties were too complex to communicate due to our respective language limitations, but I suspect we were pretty much on the same page.

[rpannier]

4. Third place went to a hate group

Pathetic