Index – Domestic – Intermediate Borsod may be the last nail in Jobbik’s coffin

An interim parliamentary election will be held on October 11 in the sixth constituency of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, after Fidesz’s representative in the region, Ferenc Koncz, died in a car accident on July 10. Koncz became mayor of Szerencs in 2010 and then a member of parliament from 2018 after his predecessor, Roland Mengyi, was embroiled in a serious corruption scandal, so Fidesz decided to present him with a new candidate for the elections. . (How much was finally sentenced by the Metropolitan Trial Panel to four years in prison in September 2019 for attempting to commit budget fraud as an aide and trading influence, and also went to jail in January of this year.)

The two-thirds majority of Fidesz’s parliament was abolished on paper with the death of Ferenc Koncz, as it requires 133 members, so now they only have 132. The government side will nominate the daughter of the deceased MP, Zsófia Koncz, in the October elections.

His name may be familiar from the fact that back in 2015, as vice president of Fidelitas, together with President László Böröcz, they introduced the idea of ​​the provocative watchdog: they wanted to publish the names of those who they believe are deliberately disrupting state events. Subsequently, Zsófia Koncz worked at the Washington Embassy as a foreign policy officer.

The opposition begins against László Bíró, who in 318 scored 31.64 percent with Jobbik’s colors against Koncz, who finally shot in the district by 49.3 percent. All opposition parties supported him, but Jobbik could not be officially included among the nominating organizations because the National Electoral Commission determined that the party was illegally registered.

The NVB made its decision citing the fact that Péter Jakab was not officially the party president and Márton Gyöngyösi was the vice president, so that no one could stand for election. Jobbik contested this, so they appealed to the Mansion, but the board upheld the NVB’s decision.

Accompanied by the past

However, Judge’s campaign is not only complicated by the fact that he cannot start with the Jobbik logo. He had previously made several unacceptable statements that forced him to explain. For example, he called Budapest “judapest” during a post about people who left Jobbik in the capital because they did not agree with party policy. In another comment, he called Israeli tourists “lice slides.”

Although Judge did not admit to writing the cited comments, he responded to criticism on his Facebook page, generally apologizing for his earlier statements.

It’s not just the two-thirds breakdown that’s at stake

The largest settlement in the constituency is Tiszaújváros, with a population of approximately 15,000, which has been a left-wing “citadel” since regime change, but does not represent a significant counterweight to many small settlements and towns, where Fidesz is often strong. However, according to the political analysts we interviewed, we are facing an exciting election and opposition politicians say it is not a party. The gamble is not “just” a symbolic two-thirds breakdown, but the outcome can also strongly influence Jobbik’s political position and future.

In the 2018 parliamentary elections, Jobbik achieved the best electoral result in its history so far, but since then the party has started to collapse. Gábor Vona, the party chairman, who resigned on the eve of the elections, and several of the politicians who criticized Jobbik’s decline and change of leadership, left the party.

Jobbik no longer has several items of significant political importance:

• Although the party’s chairman, Péter Jakab, is well known among opposition voters, Jobbik is not really a popular politician outside of it.
• Due to the political change that has taken place in recent years, he no longer poses a particular threat to the Fidesz polling station, although he has become acceptable to left-wing liberal voters, his right-wing face is badly worn.
• The party has been fined several times by the State Audit Office since the parliamentary elections and has lost significant resources in addition to its key politicians.

To the success of the change of government in 2022, the party can add one thing, as things stand today, its rural roots. While the two most dominant actors within the opposition, the Momentum and the Democratic Coalition, do not have an interpretable activist base and voting field in small settlements in rural Hungary, Jobbik is considered the party of the countryside.