PM announces slate of candidates; opposition rift widens
The Dialogue for Hungary (a.k.a. Párbeszéd Magyarországért or PM) group spun off from the green issue-centric opposition party LMP has finalized its list of nominees for the 2014 general elections and the European Parliamentary elections.
PM will run in association with Gordon Bajnai’s Együtt 2014 (E14) party and enter candidates in 11 voting districts, including four in Budapest. The domestic list will be led by PM co-chair Tímea Szabó, while her peer Benedek Jávor will head the European parliamentary list.
An agreement -- later criticized by high-rankers in the Democratic Coalition (DK) party -- to divide Hungary's 106 electoral districts among the left-wing opposition parties MSzP and E14-PM was reached in August. At that time, the parties agreed to a 75-31 split of districts. Though E14 is thus tasked with fielding a slate of 20 candidates, reportedly only one, party president Gordon Bajnai, has been decided upon.
Relations tenuous between MSzP/E14-PM, DK
Tensions remain high among parties on the political left following scandalous happenings at a joint rally on the October 23 national holiday.
At the event commemorating the 1956 revolution co-organized by several left-wing parties, supporters of former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány’s DK party interrupted the speech of MSzP chairman Attila Mesterházy (see below embedded video from 4:10), while Gyurcsány himself again criticizing the agreement between MSzP and Együtt 2014 for not being inclusive of the other left-wing organizations.
Both Bajnai and Mesterházy have expressed anger and frustration with Gyurcsány, who was also critical of the left in his address, saying that a deal that doesn’t include a broader cooperation won’t be sufficient to win at the 2014 general elections.
-- David Landry contributed to this story
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