Why is Fidesz so strong in Hungary?

[Sir Mohamed]

From time to time I'm clicking through Wikipedia articles of opinion polling for the next election in countries all over the world. I've noticed Fidesz, the rightwing ruling party in Hungary, is polling extremely well. I'm not too much into Hungarian politics, but why is this? Isn't Hungary supposed to be a democratic country? It's a member of the European Union and not supposed to be an authoritarian oligarchy like Russia or Belarus. What's so appealing about this party that its polling around or above 50% while all others barely poll into double digits? One of them even far right. It's almost like a one party system?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2022_Hungarian_parliamentary_election

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Hungary is absolutely democratic.
It's the illiberal sort however.
The scars of the 2000s Socialist government still run deep and the ineffectiveness of the Hungarian opposition are a big reason for Fidesz's dominance.

[Estrella]

There are a couple of reasons for that:

- Hungary is a bit similar to Poland in that it has a kind of siege mentality/persecution complex - in Poland's case, it was because of existing between Germany and Russia, for Hungary it's the Treaty of Trianon, when they lost a large portion of their territory and population. This, together with the fact that Hungary never had real democracy before 1989 creates a fetish for nationalist 'strong leaders'.

- After getting in power, Fidesz set out to take control of the media - turning the public TV into pretty much an organ of the party (their news have the informational value of Правда and consist of constant propaganda about MIGRANTS! and SOROS!), running massive advertising blitzes (the economy is amazing! migrants are bad! don't let ((Soros)) have the last laugh!) and straight out buying opposition media, turning them into government mouthpieces.

- The country is, in fact, doing pretty well - low unemployment, good GDP growth, more spending on social services (Fidesz is much like PiS when it comes to economy) and a perception of stability and order.

- And, as Phil said, the opposition makes the French left look like tactical masterminds.

_{(Shouldn't this go to the International General Discussion?)}

[Omega21]

From time to time I'm clicking through Wikipedia articles of opinion polling for the next election in countries all over the world. I've noticed Fidesz, the rightwing ruling party in Hungary, is polling extremely well. I'm not too much into Hungarian politics, but why is this? Isn't Hungary supposed to be a democratic country? It's a member of the European Union and not supposed to be an authoritarian oligarchy like Russia or Belarus. What's so appealing about this party that its polling around or above 50% while all others barely poll into double digits? One of them even far right. It's almost like a one party system?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2022_Hungarian_parliamentary_election

The opposition, including the left, joined up with a Nazi party (Jobbik) in order to win local elections in some places, so, would you rather have Fidesz or Nazis? Anyone cooperating with them is no better, so they are automatically off the table for me.

For those saying they are not Nazis:

Hungarian supporters of the far-right Jobbik party participate in a nationalist march through Warsaw, Poland, Nov. 11, 2015.

Image link

Members of the New Hungarian Guard stand at a Jobbik rally against a gathering of the World Jewish Congress in Budapest, 4 May 2013

Jobbik-NewHungarianGuard-May2013
Michael Thaidigsmann [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Image link

Look at all those "beautiful" quasi swastikas, just the people who need to be elected to get rid of big bad Orban for not accepting any migrants!

https://www.counterextremism.com/threat/jobbik

So yeah, with the opposition joining forces with guys like this, are you still wondering why Orban is doing well?

Anyone hungry enough for power to disregard all of their hateful, spiteful ideology and cooperate with them does not deserve a single seat.

[CumbrianLefty]

Though aren't Jobbik claiming to be ex-Nazis now? Obviously - as with the Austrian FPO, French FN and many other examples - eternal vigilance is required about these things

[Omega21]

Though aren't Jobbik claiming to be ex-Nazis now? Obviously - as with the Austrian FPO, French FN and many other examples - eternal vigilance is required about these things

Those parties never wore Swastikas or SS like uniforms, never had their own "guard", never protested against any Jewish manifestation.

Or

In a newsletter published by a group calling itself "The trade union of Hungarian police officers prepared for action", the following was allegedly printed: "Given our current situation, anti-Semitism is not just our right, but it is the duty of every Hungarian homeland lover, and we must prepare for armed battle against the Jews." The editor of the union, Judit Szima, was a Jobbik candidate in the upcoming election for the European Union parliament.

During spring 2012, Jobbik representative in Hungarian parliament Zsolt Baráth caused an outrage by commemorating 1882 blood libel against the Jews in Parliament. The Tiszaeszlár blood libel, found later to be unrelated to Jews, was known as first major anti-Jewish event in modern Hungary, predating the Holocaust.

On the eve of the 2009 elections to the European parliament, a comment was posted on an unofficial and unverified Hungarian political internet forum, allegedly in the name of Krisztina Morvai, who then headed the party's electoral list. Addressing their remarks to Hungarian Jews the comment poster stated that they "would be glad if the so-called proud Hungarian Jews went back to playing with their tiny circumcised dicks instead of vilifying me."[137][138][139] News of this comment, which has been roundly condemned,[140] spread rapidly around the world[141][142] and eventually even featured in an article by The Economist.[143] Morvai's critics have pointed to her refusal to even discuss the issue,[144] let alone deny it;[145] implying that this is sufficient to ascribe authorship of the remarks to her.[

If you can correct me on it, I would be happy to have my mind changed.

Comparing right-wing/far-right parties like you mentioned that sometimes have a few scandals from individuals in the party to a party that literally was openly neo-Nazi is just absurd.

[CumbrianLefty]

Hell, I'm not apologising for them. Anything but

The fact remains, though, that they now claim to be an ex-Nazi party and to have purged those types from their ranks. Others more knowledgeable can maybe say how true (or not) that actually is?

[Omega21]

Hell, I'm not apologising for them. Anything but

The fact remains, though, that they now claim to be an ex-Nazi party and to have purged those types from their ranks. Others more knowledgeable can maybe say how true (or not) that actually is?

Oh, no, you are definitely right about that.

It is true in large part, but the issue is, how much can you "cleanse" a neo-Nazi party in the first place...

It's different when the parties that you listed have some members with sick ideological views, neo-Nazi ideology and open antisemitism was never part of their manifesto or mission. But, when the whole party was openly neo-Nazi, like in Jobbik's case, you would need to literally expel everyone lol

Edit: in 2010 they got 855,000 votes and 1,020,476 in 2014 (when they were on top of their Nazi game), in 2018 they got 1,100,000, so obviously, most of the old voter base is still there.

[bigic]

Omega21 you sound like Aleksandar Vučić and his puppets trying to attach the "fascist" label to Serbian opposition by associating the entire opposition to Dveri, which is not even the second largest opposition party, while conveniently ignoring that Vučić and most of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) have backgrounds in fascist Serbian Radical Party (SRS).
I dislike both Dveri (hardcore christian anti-LGBT party) and Jobbik, and I'm sceptical of Jobbik's supposed transformation in part because of Vučić's "transformation" and I don't think Dveri is really a pluralist democratic party either.
But this is extremely ignorant of the authoritarian ruling parties (Fidesz, SNS) which are as bad or maybe even worse than their supposedly fascist opposition counterparts. By one analysis Fidesz has implemented most of the Jobbik's 2010 program, when Jobbik was actually fascist!
Also the choice is not between SNS/Fidesz rule and one party Dveri/Jobbik rule. It's about SNS/Fidesz and a broad opposition coalition which may include Dveri/Jobbik.

[Omega21]

Omega21 you sound like Aleksandar Vučić and his puppets trying to attach the "fascist" label to Serbian opposition by associating the entire opposition to Dveri, which is not even the second largest opposition party, while conveniently ignoring that Vučić and most of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) have backgrounds in fascist Serbian Radical Party (SRS).
I dislike both Dveri (hardcore christian anti-LGBT party) and Jobbik, and I'm sceptical of Jobbik's supposed transformation in part because of Vučić's "transformation" and I don't think Dveri is really a pluralist democratic party either.
But this is extremely ignorant of the authoritarian ruling parties (Fidesz, SNS) which are as bad or maybe even worse than their supposedly fascist opposition counterparts. By one analysis Fidesz has implemented most of the Jobbik's 2010 program, when Jobbik was actually fascist!
Also the choice is not between SNS/Fidesz rule and one party Dveri/Jobbik rule. It's about SNS/Fidesz and a broad opposition coalition which may include Dveri/Jobbik.

Jobbik is THE opposition.

Jobbik was #2, and #3 and #4 have as many votes combined as Jobbik alone lol.


https://twitter.com/politicoeurope/status/983249932730732544

So yeah, it would be true, if Dveri got 20% lol

Plus, the opposition in Serbia is incompetent af, so it's not really Vucic's fault alone. Sure' he's a Happy and Pink (hahaha, get it) "Strongman", but a lot of that is due to their incompetence.

Hell, can't remember how many times Serbian Dems split up lol

[crals]

Jobbik are no longer the most supported opposition party according to opinion polling. And aren't they supposedly more moderate than Fidesz nowadays?

[Omega21]

Jobbik are no longer the most supported opposition party according to opinion polling. And aren't they supposedly more moderate than Fidesz nowadays?

Well, I'm going based on the last year's elections and no, it's like believing the NPD can become "more moderate" than the CSU lol.

In that case, you got to hand it to the NPD tho, they never had hundreds of peoples with swastikas marching and trying to block off Jews from attending events.

[bigic]

🤣 If you think Orban protects Hungarians from immigrant ghettos then I have a bridge to sell you. The fact is that Hungary won't be an attractive destination for immigration even under a more liberal government due to its relatively low level of economic development. As are nearby countries with a similar level of economic development.

[Grand Wizard Lizard of the Klan]

Jobbik changed very much since far-right times. Nowadays they can't be considered as radical party.

[tepoe]

The consistency of the level of support is mostly the state of the economy directly (stability and growth is valued after decades of turmoil) and indirectly (tranfers to the middle class). Fidesz will only go below 2 million voters at a general election if this factor changes significantly.

I would put the state of the opposition to 2nd place: our mixed election system gives to goverment to the winner of the FPTB individual districts. Fidesz even changed the election rules, campaign financing rules and even the parliamentary law to strenghten this effect. Since the socialists eorked themselves down to a small party, we have a major party minus from a two-party system. Cooperation is must for the underfounded opposition now, that is why the credentials of Jobbik were off the table. FYI: the naziest part of Jobbik is now Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) with their paramilitary groups and a healthy presence in Fidesz-friendly media.

The third factor is the lack of level playing field, as it was mentioned above (the impartiality of publoc media, goverment paid billboard campaigns, centralised 'private' media, etc.). But I don't think it is decisive, but it obviously makes things easier for Fidesz.

Local electuons this October showed that non-Fidesz voters are open to vote for very broad opposition coalitions, so there is skme chance, that 2022 might even be compatitive. But it depeends on  the changes of these factors.