'I stand ready to govern,' says Hungary's opposition leader

Budapest - The leader of Hungary's center-right Fidesz opposition party said the time had come to "restore order" in the country, putting himself forward as possible prime minister during an annual "state of the nation address. "I stand ready to assume the personally the task of governing Hungary, and my party stands ready for strong, responsible and active government," Viktor Orban said.

However, there was disappointment at the lack of detailed, concrete policies in the speech should Fidesz - as expected - win the forthcoming April general election.

The prime ministerial candidate of the governing Socialist Party, Attila Mesterhazy, had called on Orban to deliver a "frank" speech.

In a YouTube video earlier in the week, Mesterhazy challenged Orban to reveal his position on the extreme right and say whether he intends to allow Hungary's budget deficit to increase.

The opposition leader said "all forms of extremism are dangerous," but as an example he spoke of elected leaders placing themselves above the law - a reference to several recent corruption scandals.

What Orban delivered in his hour-long speech were more general calls for "strong government" and a restoration of order, faith and pride in the country.

"Such a deep need for change was last seen perhaps 20 years ago," Orban said, referring to the end of the communist regime.

"But then we were proud. Now we are seen as weak, and weak government is obviously the reason for this," Orban said.

Fidesz has held a commanding lead in opinion polls since shortly after it lost the elections to a socialist-liberal coalition in 2006.

The party's popularity is largely due to the widely-despised former socialist prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who was heard in a recording leaked just months after the election acknowledging that his party had repeatedly lied to the electorate.

He held on through months of sometimes violent demonstration, but it was the economic crisis that finally put paid to Gyurcsany last March.

A new technocrat government led by Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai was installed with socialist backing and has since done the unpopular work of implementing drastic spending cuts to rein in the budget deficit.

Meanwhile, with the Socialist party also beset by a seemingly endless series of corruption scandals, Fidesz's victory is taken for granted by many Hungarians.

Nevertheless, a potential challenge for votes on the right comes from the nationalist party Jobbik, which won 15 per cent of the vote in the European Parliament elections last June.

Jobbik dismissed Orban's speech as a "campaign speech lacking any concrete details" about policy in a statement issued shortly afterward.

"Dare we speak the truth about multinational capital, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, Israeli expansionism, or gypsy crime?" the nationalist party said.

The Socialist candidate Mesterhazy dismissed Orban's speech as lacking substance.

"It was as if Viktor Orban was afraid he would be taken off the party's electoral list if he revealed too many specifics of its program," Mesterhazy said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/307757,i-stand-ready-to-govern-says-hungarys-opposition-leader.html.