Translation of “Fidesz has its two-thirds parliamentary majority, they finished tallying the vote” appearing in daily online 444.hu.

The tallying of all votes cast in last Sunday’s parliamentary election has been completed, and the final result has been published for each electoral district. The Fidesz-Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) alliance will have a two-thirds majority in the new parliament. Based on the final tally, Fidesz-KDNP candidates won in 91 out of 106 districts, Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) candidates in eight, Democratic Coalition (DK) candidates in three, and Jobbik and Politics Can Be Different (LMP) candidates in one district each. One Együtt (Together) candidate obtained a mandate, and one independent candidate also got into parliament.

From their respective national party lists, Fidesz-KDNP will send 42 delegates, Jobbik 25 delegates, MSZP-P 12 delegates, LMP 7 delegates and DK 6 delegates. The Hungarian German National Local Government received one “discounted” mandate.

In the April 8 general election it was possible for citizens not present at their place of residence to cast a vote in another Hungarian settlement or at a foreign consulate.  Since these citizens voted for representatives in their own residences, the votes had to be sent to the polling station designated in the electoral district according to their place of residence. The ballot boxes containing the votes were first delivered to the National Election Office (NVI), where they were sorted according to the 106 electoral districts, then the “final votes” were put into a transport box.

Each electoral district could take delivery of its corresponding delivery box Saturday morning. Here votes cast earlier but not counted last Sunday night were mixed in and the votes were counted together.  Following this the vote tallying committee determined the results of the parliamentary election by polling station. Afterwards, the national electoral district committee determined the result of the vote in each electoral district. The results have not yet cured.

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Translation of András Mizsur’s article “CEU and Kárpátia can stand side by side if the goal is to get rid of Orbán” appearing in Abcug.

It appears Viktor Orbán’s system has brought together Jobbik supporters and liberals. Saturday’s anti-government demonstration in Budapest accommodated support for Central European University as well as national radicalism. The most important thing is that the government be defeated, everything else is a minor, said the protestors. The most important demand of the speakers was the scheduling of new elections and solidarity on the part of opposition parties.  Balázs Gulyás, the organizer of the internet tax protests, spoke of this, at the same time announcing that they were calling citizens into the streets the following week as well.

“Good question! Well, strange,” answered a young man wrapped in the EU flag at Saturday evening’s anti-government demonstration when I asked him what it was like to protest against Viktor Orbán’s system together with Jobbik supporters. He and his friend saw that Jobbik supporters were also in this position.

This was the strongest motive behind the “‘We are the majority!’ demonstration for democracy.” In the crowd, which amounted to many tens of thousands of people, it was possible to see Jobbik, Árpad (red) striped, and EU flags. Many came to the demonstration wearing either Jobbik or Kárpátia t-shirts, even though buttons supporting civil organizations behind last year’s demonstrations and CEU also showed up.  Signs criticizing Ferenc Gyurcsány could be seen next to banners proclaiming that electoral fraud had taken place.

Jobbik’s rebirth as a popular party was credible

The young man mentioned before believes there are values that are important both to Jobbik supporters and liberals, including rule of law and democracy.  Perhaps they do not agree on gay rights, but for now these are side questions, he explained. Diversity is important, as well as that Jobbik be in parliament.

Others were not put off by the fact that Jobbik participated in the protest organized by civil organizations. “Why not, if it’s in the interest of a common goal,” responded a Momentum supporter carrying an EU flag.  He believes Jobbik’s rebirth as a people’s party was credible, and that today Fidesz is far more of a radical rightwing party than Jobbik.  Gábor Vona’s resignation took backbone. “I would have expected the same from Gyurcsány after the election.”

The “opposing camp” was of a similar opinion, at least with regard to the goals of the protest. “We need to put our priorities in order!” said a man wearing a Jobbik t-shirt, who, along with his Jobbik sympathizer wife, went to the Kossuth square to demand Viktor Orbán’s resignation.

“Orbán’s defeat is now the most important thing, we can discuss the details later,” he said. If they were to sit down over a beer to speak, then they would realise that liberals and Jobbik supporters have much more in common than they think.  There was nothing said over the course of the demonstration that they could not have agreed with. Only party politics and ideology divides the people, he added.

“I was proud to don the Jobbik t-shirt and for them to see that we are also here. No atrocities took place because of this.”

However, one interplay indicated that it was not easy for everyone to digest the presence of Jobbik supporters. When I spoke with the Jobbik supporter, a woman came up to me and said “it was not easy to march next to somebody with a swastika tattooed on his arm.” Afterwards, the two parties spoke peacefully. It also turned out that the woman’s partner was of gypsy descent. The man’s wife also said that she never agreed with the party’s radical direction, and that remaking Jobbik as a people’s party was unavoidable. It is not possible to sweep problems under the rug, but that does not mean they want to solve them radically.

They will demonstrate again in one week’s time

Although many parties indicated previously their support and participation, only the presence of Jobbik and Momentum was conspicuous.  At the beginning of the demonstration a smaller group of Jobbik supporters showed up carrying a banner saying “The people cannot be voted out.” This  slogan appeared last summer on advertising kiosks owned by Lajos Simicska’s company, ordered by a private individual.

Momentum supporters also turned out in large numbers led by party chairman András Fekete-Győr.  We did not see any LMP, MSZP or DK flags or banners. Among opposition politicians could be seen Ákos Hadházy, Bernadett Szél, Péter Juhász and Ágnes Kunhalmi.

The most important demands of the speakers were new elections and opposition party solidarity.  Internet tax protest organizer Balázs Gulyás spoke about this, announcing at the same time that they would call citizens to the streets again in a week’s time.

“The most important thing is that we want new and fair elections. This is the responsibility of the government, and we will remind them of this peacefully and in large numbers!” said Gulyás.

Since Sunday the independent press has been writing extensively about anomalies experienced over the course of the election. However, the newspapers rule out the possibility of systematic fraud. Gulyás spoke rather about the deficiencies of the electoral system and the government’s dominance of the media.

Viktor Gyetvai, one of the organizers of student demonstrations at the beginning of the year, called on opposition parties to start negotiating with one another, “because Fidesz can only be defeated if next time only one opposition candidate runs (in each of the 106 electoral districts).”  Afterwards the crowd held aloft their shining cellphones and chanted “we are the majority” and “Orbán scram!”

No provocation took place

It was already possible to see on Facebook that many would attend the protest: more than 38,000 RSVPed and another 85,000 were interested. Exact numbers are not known, but a good basis for comparison is that by the time the tail end of those marching reached the Opera, Kossuth square was already full.  This is why the march to the square did not begin for some time.  The organizers wanted to wait for demonstrators arriving later.

The organizers emphasized before and after the demonstration that the protest was peaceful and asked everyone to follow the law. For days government media has been writing about a frenzy of “Soros believers” and aggression. (Pro-government daily online-tran.) Origo envisioned an “anarchist provocation.” None of this came to pass. After the final speech, much of the crowd dispersed from the square. A smaller group remained before the Parliament building, but there were not serious instances. There were some who marched to Oktogon and to the Lindsay street Fidesz headquarters, but there was no need for the police to interfere.

The post Tens of thousands of protestors demand new elections, opposition solidarity appeared first on The Budapest Beacon.

– Péter Tölgyessy, political scientist

Translation of “Tölgyessy: It is not certain that we will live to see the end of the Orbán system” appearing in hvg.hu.

“Hungary, what will become of you? – Hungary’s political outlook after the the voters’ decision.” This was the title of the lecture held several days after (Fidesz won its) third two-thirds (parliamentary majority-tran.)

He painted a gloomy picture. He said not one true word was said over the course of the campaign, calling the entire thing totally shameful. Orbán is the master of the low tide. When it’s over there won’t be a change of government, but a system change (like that of 1989-tran.)

At the event jointly hosted by the Eötvös Group and the Societal Reflex Institute, the lawyer and political scientist said that several decades ago he had the opportunity to spend some time in Brittany. He recounted how eager he was to arrive to the coast, but that after arriving there experienced a huge disappointment in the form of mud, hopelessness, and low-tide.

“That is precisely the situation now.”

We’re at low-tide. However, society may not close itself off. In vain have we lived in this for eight years. He says this is not only a Hungarian matter, and that we are not the only ones taken captive by somebody, and for this reason Tölgyessy made an international outlook.

In 1989 everybody awaited the high-tide. We believed we would catch up, but that is not what happened. Worse and worse years came, and the situation of the middle-classes in the western world started to deteriorate. Support for the old parties started to wane across Europe and the knowledge of the elite was questioned by the broader public. At home the trouble was even bigger, as the crisis hit a non-solidified democracy. The 2008 economic crisis was smaller than the one between the two world wars, they said. But nobody could say how long it would last.

“Our small Hungarian system is part of this trend.”

Furthermore, the greatest master of the trend is Viktor Orbán, who masterfully built his low-tide system. It wasn’t Orbán who invented this system, but he is one of its most innovative representatives. According to Tölgyessy, what happened after the crisis was what usually happens: society became divided. He cited Ukraine and Russia as examples of countries where there was no transition, but either decline or the centralized exercise of power.

“We are on the border, I hope on the innermost side of the border.”

He believes the campaign was pitiful and disgusting. Not a single true word was said on the side of either the government or the opposition the past half year.

Structurally the two campaigns were similar. The one said migrants are coming to rape the women. The other said that without Orbán everything will be a lot better.

“István Bethlen (Prime Minister from 1921 to 1931-tran.) would have despaired to see this.”

It is no surprise, that it was Hungary whose population first said that this is not a good system. After the economic crisis the people said we do not need the West before the politicians. Here at home we turned away from capitalism and democracy. Judgement of the system change is the worst in Hungary. “It’s clear that they started to build politics on this.” But it was Fidesz and Viktor Orbán who reacted first to social changes.  In 2010 they swept the majority of the old parties out of parliament, and strengthened LMP and Jobbik.

He thinks there are hardly any examples in Hungarian society on which to build democracy or capitalism. Society is paternalistic, on which the prime minister built a great deal. “Orbán restored the hierarchical system,” in which it is possible to bargain and negotiate.

At the same time Tölgyessy noted that in times of low-tide there is no growth. If the anti-migrant rhetoric loses steam, Orbán will find a new enemy. “I don’t know who that might be. Orbán doesn’t know yet either.” He tries to offer up success, but these are cheap successes.

He said that our country is the one with the world’s biggest complaint culture, with enough grievances to fill an ocean. And most often the one who triumphs is the one who expresses these grievances. “The politics of grievance cannot be defeated.”

According to the political scientist, the decrease of utility costs after a few cold days was part of this.

On the subject of the recent elections, he was shocked by what the opposition said. “They should have stood up and said that this doesn’t exist.” Until Hódmezővásárhely (when an independent won a mayoral by-election-tran.) the opposition knew victory was impossible and politicized against the opposition parties. Their community was happy to believe that the Szél, Karácsony, and Vona government was coming, even though these were 10 percent parties.

“The whole thing was a terrible sleight of hand.”

But then came Hódmezővásárhely and everything changed. It was possible to sense that the system was vulnerable. Fidesz was shaken, but it had a two-thirds majority for most of the cycle, and for this reason there were no big surprises. Among the opposition parties, those succeeded most that best deceived their voters. “There was somebody who played his cards even better than Orbán: Ferenc Gyurcsány.” Out of four members of parliament he made nine.

Jobbik and LMP – the green party remained a dwarf party, according to Tölgyessy – fell short of expectations.  The traditional leftwing parties retained the opposition leader’s strength. The political scientist chided the press for pressuring the parties to come together in the interest of victory even though victory was impossible. The  groups exerting pressure, the know-it-alls, the new civil organizations, all bear great responsibility for the election’s failure.

We cannot free ourselves from politics rooted in Kádárism, said Tölgyessy, summarizing the reasons for Hungary’s fall.

On the subject of the Fidesz system, he said such politics work in times of low-tide. “It is very difficult to do democracy in Hungary.” By way of conclusions, he said everything needs to be rethought from the ground up, beginning with honest discussion about the tax system. The problem, however, is that there is no model for us to follow as there was in 1989. The Orbán system will continue to function so long as the conditions present at its creation still exist, for example the middle-class crises and hopelessness. But hubris can bring on collapse when the power itself runs into the knife. It’s rare when a similar system fills its time.

“Such systems are rarely brought down in elections.”

On upsetting assumptions that electoral fraud took place, he said what we read about did not influence the election, and that the final result represents the will of the voters. “We needn’t behave like the Quaestor victims.” Anyway, it is necessary to live in times of low-tide, because it is not incidental in what condition the high-tide finds us. On the subject of migration, he said that this is a inward-turning country, and that the Hungarians are not accustomed to immigration, which Orbán very much sensed.

But the opposition must prepare for the high-tide. It must not speak irresponsibly, but confront it. He thinks it is necessary to conduct politics that take the country in the direction of rationality rather than insanity, in a manner consistent with Hungarian national traditions. “With the high-tide it is possible to step out of the swamp,” although this is not possible with the current opposition, says Tölgyessy, who does not believe the west is falling, but cannot tell when the era of ascension will come.

“If the high-tide comes and we stand ready, then Hungary will once again be on the rise,” he said, concluding his presentation.

In response to viewers’ questions, he said the country is very exposed to corruption, and that it is a party of daily life as well.  However, for a long time it was taboo for top political leadership to accumulate assets, and that this applied to the Horthy and Kádár system as well.  Social corruption and trickery, on the other hand, became the main rule in the Kádár system, and that confusing period of system change also brought political corruption. “Orbán has taken the system into this.”  Unique to Hungary after the system change was that its elite remained unaffected, as well as the media, which was only changed under Fidesz with the use of its secret weapon, Lajos Simicska, who is corruption itself.  But big oligarchs among the socialists also showed up.

Orbán has been saying for twenty years that he does not tolerate anybody over home, and that he is a sovereign power.  That is why he created his own media. He also brought the oligarchs under himself and built a new elite. Tölgyessy believes this is the basis of his politics. The secret of success is not stealing money. In vain might the majority of Hungarians think that.  Stealing does not legitimize the elite. How can such large estates be created that even Esterházy would be jealous?, he asked.  While he did not answer this directly, he said that the Esterházy family had merit.

Another question, whether we will be a member of the EU in 10 years.  Yes, categorically.  In vain is the leftwing preoccupied with the idea that it won’t and demonize Orbán, which is easy to do according to Tölgyessy. He even plays on this role. Orbán is practicing EU politics, he is looking for allies, and sometimes even speaks the truth. On the subject of Paks, he said that the prime minister agreed to it because he smelled the possibility of stealing money.

There was a question about the migration issue as well. It does not directly threaten us because this is a “small, unfortunate, and wretched country.”  However, if they come in droves, then western values could be endangered, said the political scientist.  He said that what the leftwing says to this day is at a distance from reality. However, he did not go deeper into the subject because it would appear as though he was campaigning for Fidesz.  At the same time, there are no gestures or arrogant individuals in the governing parties that could cause their decline.

At the end of the presentation he returned to the campaign, saying it was a huge problem treating voters in an infantile manner and promising that if they vote right there will be money for everything. However, there was no good solution as to how the opposition should deal with this. “The disappearance of this system has yet to be put on the agenda.” It is not certain that we will live to see the end of the Orbán system.  Moreover, nothing works at home the way it does in western democracies.

On the subject of the opposition, he said it was tied to Fidesz, and that for this reason it was easy to imagine that they would disappear together with Fidesz. He said the current opposition would not bring down the Fidesz system.

However, when the end comes, there will not be a change in government, but a system change. But until then, Orbán will play on fear like a virtuoso.

And how can we protect ourselves in such a constraining system?  “That is a very good question,” said Tölgyessy. Because if there is no success, then at least there has to be a scapegoat, that is Orbán’s thesis.  He profited from the NOlimpia campaign and from Hódmezővásárhely as well.

In response to a question, he said we need to nurture fewer expectations with respect to politicians and parties.

Is it worthwhile staying here? Do we need an intelligentsia? Today somebody is either a servant or an opponent. For the intellgentsia bears much responsibility for how we got here, as does he. Tölgyessy suggested facing the entire country.

And why isn’t there a modern conservative party? Tölgyessy believes no such thing exists, nor do modern conservatives. For Fidesz is radical, and very much so. “It is only possible to win with lies.” But many voted for Fidesz because it was still better than chaos, and the voters did not believe that the opposition was capable of governing.  By way of a solution, he proposed a new respect for facts and that there be consequences, because the high-tide will come and we can also be successful.

I was afraid of tonight, that in the midst of mourning I would not be able to speak rationally, he acknowledged at the end.

The post Hungary, what will become of you? appeared first on The Budapest Beacon.

“In recent years Hungarian media outlets have fallen one after the other into the hands of those close to the government: every county newspaper, Origo, Bors, Figyelő, TV2 and Echo TV has been taken over by businessmen close to Fidesz. The media researcher thinks that 60-70 percent of organs providing public content are influenced by the government.”

Translation of “MÚOSZ: Government independent media could further narrow” published by hirtv.hu.

Magyar Nemzet appeared for the last time on Wednesday. Lánchíd Rádió went silent Tuesday at midnight.  The president of the Hungarian Journalists Countrywide Association (MÚOSZ) expects a further narrowing of the free press after the Fidesz two-thirds parliamentary victory on April 8. The experts say that Fidesz can employ numerous techniques to silence critical voices.

Lánchíd Rádió closed after 11 years due to financial difficulties. For similar reasons Lajos Simicska closed another media enterprise: Magyar Nemzet appeared for the last time on Wednesday. The 80-year-old paper survived the German invasion and the revolution of 1956, but not the new Fidesz two-thirds  majority. People working there are confident that this is not the end.

In the farewell edition they wrote: they believe democracy and impartial reporting still exists in Hungary and hope that they will return.

Viktor Orbán said in his March 15th speech: “It is not anemic opposition parties against which we must struggle, but an empire with an international network. Media supported by foreign concerns and domestic oligarchs, professionally paid activists, trouble-making protest organizers, or the network of NGOs financed by international speculators led and embodied by George Soros. We must struggle with this world In order to save our press.”

During the campaign the prime minister frequently stated in no uncertain terms that the critical media does not expect much good to come from a new Fidesz victory.

MÚOSZ chairman, Miklós Hargitai, said: “That which we need they try to obtain. We saw this, for example, with Origo or the county newspapers. There is a very simple recipe, which is to make even an irrationally large offer for it. These purchases always take place using public money in some form.”

Tuesday, in response to questions from Index, German-owned television channel RTL Klub and 24.hu publisher Central Media Group stated that they will continue. Index is not planning any changes. Media researchers believe, however, that through certain economic actions, the government may further narrow the government-independent press.

State advertising expenditures will be further concentrated, perhaps the level of the advertising tax will be raised.

Following the example of 444.hu, after the elections hvg.hu also launched a fundraising drive: they are asking support for their operations from their readers. An expert believes, however, that with a two-thirds majority the government can take direct steps to make it impossible for editorial staffs to do their work.

“It is possible to modify the media law as well as the constitution,” said media researcher Ágnes Urbán. “Taken to an extreme, it would even be possible to do away with certain media products, as there has been talk of introducing a media chamber. It is possible that from this time on journalists will need some kind of permit to work.”

In recent years Hungarian media outlets have fallen one after the other into the hands of those close to the government: every county newspaper, Origo, Bors, Figyelő, TV2 and Echo TV has been taken over by businessmen close to Fidesz. The media researcher thinks that 60-70 percent of organs providing public content are influenced by the government.

Der Standard has also written about this

“State of independent media in Hungary uncertain after the election” writes liberal Austrian newspaper Der Standard in a lengthy article.

The newspaper emphasizes that in recent years numerous media in the country became pro-government.

“Viktor Orbán’s new two-thirds victory has already claimed its first victims: Magyar Nemzet and Lánchíd Rádió.  What remains of independent or media critical of the government are afraid that they will also be ground up by the government,” Der Standard says, adding that “it’s still an open question what they plan to do with them.”

The post State of Hungary’s independent media uncertain after election appeared first on The Budapest Beacon.

Translation of “The socialists should also give up their mandate” appearing on hirtv.hu

The opposition parties turned against their own voters by failing to coordinate candidates in every Budapest electoral district, László Lengyel told HírTV’s Egyenesen (Straight) program. The political scientist believes the majority of voters in the capital rejected Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s politics, which the leftwing was not able to exploit.

“This was an irresponsible and criminal effort,” said Lengyel, who believes the socialist leaders should not only resign their positions in the party leadership, but their parliamentary mandates as well.

“The opposition lost 450,000 votes [in the general election on April 8]. Nobody can permit themselves to do this. They threw the voters into the trash. They stood in line so that afterwards they could kill themselves. That’s why everyone is angry. And they think fraud took place. There wasn’t any fraud. This is not fraud. This is simply the total political illiteracy of political leaders,” Lengyel accused.

The post László Lengyel: There wasn’t any fraud appeared first on The Budapest Beacon.

Translation of “Mária Schmidt and company give birth to the Soros mercenary list: there are even deceased individuals on it” appearing in online daily 24.hu.

(Fidesz court historian-tran.) Mária Schmidt’s paper, the pro-governing party Figyelő, lists two pages worth of George Soros “mercenaries.” These are the ones whose numbers Prime Minister Viktor Orbán twice tried to estimate.

So one more time:

A former very prestigious print weekly has listed the names of “mercenaries” (Definition: A soldier that gets money to fight against somebody) in front of a black background, like some monument to the heroic dead carved in black marble.

The name of the author of the “article”’can be found here too: András Csanády

“We tried to investigate exactly who we are dealing with,” writes Csanády. “So we looked through the names of the people working directly or indirectly for the billionaire, where these can be found at all. It is hardly possible to uncover all of them, just as it is not possible to say about somebody that they are aware of who they work for, or whose mission they are fulfilling,” he complains regarding the difficulties he encountered with his piece of investigative journalism.

Well, then.

There is this word of the government, that it is necessary to render transparent the opaque civil organizations. Csanády chimes with this when he complains about not being able to find every list of names. For example, they could not find the names of those working at the Budapest office of the Open Society Foundation.  It takes two clicks on their website. There is nothing to it.

Because the article consists of only that: lists of employees of those organizations that receive some kind of support from Soros’s various foundations, without any sorting. They are the fortunate chosen ones. People like the following can count on a good little bit of harassment:

• Central European University educators
• Hungarian Helsinki Committee workers
• Amnesty International colleagues
• Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) colleagues
• Transparency International workers
• Eötvös Károly Institute workers
• The Asylum employees
• K-Monitor and Direkt36 journalists
• Romaversitas
• Márton Gulyás

And then three culminations.

Whenever possible, the article notes which individuals are former SzDSz (Alliance of Free Democrats) politicians (i.e. Jews-tran.).

“Attila Chikan, economist, the big critic of the Orbán government,” writes the prepared Csanády colleague, neglecting to add that the big critic Chikán served the first Orbán government (1998-2002) as Minister for Economics.

The names of two deceased individuals also appear on the list: Ernest Gellner, philosopher, who died in 1995, and Yehuda Elkana, historian, who died in 2012.

The post Pro-Fidesz print weekly, Figyelő, publishes list of Soros “mercenaries” appeared first on The Budapest Beacon.

The post Együtt’s Péter Juhász accuses Fidesz of electoral fraud appeared first on The Budapest Beacon.

HVG reports the following:

Based on a decision made by the party presidium, Jobbik is demanding a recount of Sunday’s general election votes, announced party spokesman Péter Jakab, at a press conference held in front of the party’s Lendvay street headquarters.

“Fidesz supposedly won a two-thirds parliamentary majority, and yet the great silence is conspicuous,” Jakab said. “There is no celebration. It is as though the boys are afraid they’ll be caught out in the end. And perhaps they are right to be afraid, since in the country today the general public opinion is that Fidesz stole this election.”

According to Jakab, it appears Fidesz also got some help in its victory from the National Election Office (NVI) under former Fidesz undersecretary Ilona Pálffy. He recalled that on Sunday NVI’s server crashed several times, “as though the election office was caught by surprise that there are parliamentary elections in Hungary every four years.”  Jakab also finds it interesting that no partial election results were announced for several hours after polls closed, even though 70-80 percent of the vote had been processed. “What happened in the hours preceding that, and in the final half hour of the election when according to the election office’s data base 170-180,000 votes disappeared?”

The post Jobbik demands recount of election results appeared first on The Budapest Beacon.

A Facebook group calling itself Talpra Magyar Hív A Szabadság (“On your feet Hungarian Freedom is Calling!”) is organizing a  mass protest for Saturday, April 14th, at 5:30 pm. The event organizers of the “We are the majority” demonstration invite those to attend “who would like a free Hungary, and who want a hate-free politics and who even want life in this smothering environment.”

“We are meeting at the Opera House whence we will march to the Kossuth tér. On your feet, Hungary! We have to demonstrate for democracy and for freedom! We want to live here in Freedom in a free country!”

According to one of the organizers, the demonstration has the following goals:

1. We have to make decisions about our future, not an unfair electoral system. In such a situation the crowd is our answer.
   Instead of hate-campaigns and incitement we want worthwhile discourse.
2. An independent country needs an independent media. In the digital age the media is the biggest trump card in the hands of power. Let’s boycott the propaganda media!
3. For our generation youth are faced with two choices: emigrate or revolution.  We have chosen!
4. We must not confuse the state with the current government. We need to drop the 2/3rds laws and adopt the American system in which no-one may serve more than two terms.
5. Without youth there is no country, no future.
6. This election decided not only about the next 4 years, but about the eastern orientation and the final touches of an illiberal state.

A subsequent post explains:

The Fidesz electoral system, the government’s hatred campaign squeezed the majority into a one-third minority. For this reason, we demand:

• A recount of the votes!
• In place of hate campaigns,  a free press, an independent public media!
• Fair elections! A new election law!
• The opposition should not fight among themselves, but should stand with the majority!
• Hungary is your homeland, you are responsible for it!

The post concludes:

Come out! You are not alone. We are the majority!

As of 3 pm on Wednesday, April 11th, 26,000 Facebook users had replied that they were going and another 68,000 replied that they were interested.

According to merce.hu, one of the planned speakers will be Zsigmond Rékasi, a political activist whose computer was seized by police after an earlier protest.  Rékasi was reportedly taken into custody Sunday night when, after a three and a half hour news blackout about the election results, spontaneous protests broke out in downtown Budapest on news that the ruling Fidesz-KDNP political alliance had received a two-thirds parliamentary majority.

The post “We are the majority” protest to take place Saturday appeared first on The Budapest Beacon.

Fake parties cost Hungarian taxpayers some HUF 3 billion (USD 12 million) this year alone according to calculations made by Transparency International Magyarország (TI) and Political Capital. While they consider Sunday’s general election result legitimate, they believe the voting was unfair according to the following joint statement posted on Wednesday:

Transparency International Hungary and Political Capital are of the opinion that [due to] corruption of fake parties, the government’s overwhelming media advantage, and government propaganda favoring its own parties,  the 2018 parliamentary election was not fair.

The report issued by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Election Monitoring Mission with regard to the election criticizes the lack of campaign finance transparency, media bias, and the blurred line between government propaganda and the governing parties’ campaign.

Both TI and Political Capital agree with the report.

As organizations fighting for electoral integrity and against corruption, Political Capital and TI already noted in 2013 that the campaign finance law paves the way for parties indifferent to the voters but very interested in state campaign subsidies. The predicted tsunami of fake parties happened. We calculated that in 2014 this cost taxpayers nearly HUF 4 billion (USD 16 million).

We were not idle between the election four years ago and yesterday. With studies, conferences, and open letters have we attempted to prevent the squandering of public money. All in vain, as the government hardly did anything to prevent political entrepreneurs from stealing billions in public money. A step in the right direction was taken when in the fall of 2017 they required those parties incapable of winning one percent of the vote to repay the campaign support. What is more, the modified laws made the party directors materially responsible for party debts. But at that time it was obvious that there would be little to close the public money pump.

One month before the April 8th election we warned that the theft of billions in public money by fake parties continued to be a serious unresolved problem. All the government needed to do was follow our recommendations of 2013. Had this happened, then the parties could only have accessed campaign finance with the use of an electronic card issued by the Hungarian treasury, and individual candidates should have been required to account for the public campaign funds they receive in a similarly strict manner.  It did not happen this way, and for this reason this year’s election also featured an overwhelming number of fake parties.

According to our calculations, 14 miniature formations light years away from receiving 1 percent of the vote received HUF 3 billion. It is more than doubtful that the state will be able to recover so much as a filler [Hungarian currency] of this money from the dwarf parties or their directors.

The money was lost and went into the pockets of the fake parties’ campaign managers. And if the state attempts to collect the money, the process could cost more than what they succeed in getting back from the fake parties. One thing is certain: the state must act.

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