April 13, 2015
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The head of Hungary's far-right Jobbik party said Monday he would "prune" racist views from the organization and become the main challenger of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party in the 2018 elections.
Jobbik president, Gabor Vona, said that their candidate's narrow victory in a rural by-election on Sunday showed that the party has a big chance to defeat Fidesz three years from now. "There is a force in Hungary capable of replacing the government and it is Jobbik," Vona said. "Jobbik is Fidesz's challenger. Today in Hungary Jobbik is the opposition force."
Jobbik first entered parliament with 16.7 percent of the votes in 2010, assisted by the since-banned Hungarian Guard which wore black uniforms and held intimidation marches against the Roma in Hungary's poorer areas.
In 2014, the party gained 20.2 percent of the votes partly by projecting a more sympathetic image and avoiding extremist views, like the anti-Semitic or anti-Gypsy statements made earlier by party politicians.
"I take responsibility for pruning our own wild sprouts and everyone, including Fidesz and the Socialists, should tend to their own gardens," Vona said. The Socialists are the leading left-wing opposition party.
According to preliminary results, Jobbik's Lajos Rig defeated Fidesz candidate Zoltan Fenyvesi by around 300 votes in a by-election held in Veszprem County after the death of a Fidesz lawmaker elected last year.
"Jobbik has become a people's party with very strong support across the whole country and in every voter segment," said Peter Kreko, director of the Political Capital Institute. "Based on the current result, it cannot be excluded that Jobbik can grow strong enough to turn into a governmental force in 2018."
Kreko said that while domestically Jobbik was no longer considered an extremist party, it remains a "pariah" on the global scene, even in the eyes of some other far-right European groups.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The head of Hungary's far-right Jobbik party said Monday he would "prune" racist views from the organization and become the main challenger of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party in the 2018 elections.
Jobbik president, Gabor Vona, said that their candidate's narrow victory in a rural by-election on Sunday showed that the party has a big chance to defeat Fidesz three years from now. "There is a force in Hungary capable of replacing the government and it is Jobbik," Vona said. "Jobbik is Fidesz's challenger. Today in Hungary Jobbik is the opposition force."
Jobbik first entered parliament with 16.7 percent of the votes in 2010, assisted by the since-banned Hungarian Guard which wore black uniforms and held intimidation marches against the Roma in Hungary's poorer areas.
In 2014, the party gained 20.2 percent of the votes partly by projecting a more sympathetic image and avoiding extremist views, like the anti-Semitic or anti-Gypsy statements made earlier by party politicians.
"I take responsibility for pruning our own wild sprouts and everyone, including Fidesz and the Socialists, should tend to their own gardens," Vona said. The Socialists are the leading left-wing opposition party.
According to preliminary results, Jobbik's Lajos Rig defeated Fidesz candidate Zoltan Fenyvesi by around 300 votes in a by-election held in Veszprem County after the death of a Fidesz lawmaker elected last year.
"Jobbik has become a people's party with very strong support across the whole country and in every voter segment," said Peter Kreko, director of the Political Capital Institute. "Based on the current result, it cannot be excluded that Jobbik can grow strong enough to turn into a governmental force in 2018."
Kreko said that while domestically Jobbik was no longer considered an extremist party, it remains a "pariah" on the global scene, even in the eyes of some other far-right European groups.
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