Steven N.
Péter Márki-Zay, the candidate for prime minister of the united opposition (pictured, left), and Jobbik President Péter Jakab (pictured, right) met behind closed doors in Hódmezővásárhely on Thursday morning, Telex writes. Jakab told the news site that he travelled to Márki-Zay’s hometown to clarify certain public comments that have been made recently about the campaign.
After their talks, both men put up posts on the importance of strengthening unity within the opposition, but said that they still disagreed on several issues. Most critically, Márki-Zay thinks that the parties are still not investing enough money in the campaign, and Jakab does not agree on the issue of the seventh caucus in Parliament.
According to the article, one of the most contentious issues was the money spent on the campaign. Márki-Zay has said in the past that the coalition parties are not even putting 1 billion Ft. (US $3.06 million) into the campaign, despite the fact that Jobbik receives 2.7 billion Ft. ($8.27 million) a year. He now told Telex that he had a more accurate picture of the party’s finances, but it remains true that the prime ministerial candidate’s campaign center is providing more support to individual candidates than the amount that the parties are jointly contributing to the campaign.
Their other sticking point concerned the question of the seventh caucus. Following his primary election victory, Péter Márki-Zay said that he wanted a separate caucus for Conservatives in Parliament, and later talked about founding his own party.
But in an interview published in Szabad Európa on Thursday, the President of Jobbik said that his party did not support changing the primary election rules during the present campaign. He also mentioned that the voters gave a hard no to József Pálinkás’ New World People’s Party based on election results, which in Márki-Zay’s plans would form the basis of the seventh caucus.
After these results, whoever wants to form a new Parliamentary caucus with them is disregarding the will of the electorate.
-stated Péter Jakab on the New World People’s Party.
Following the meeting, Márki-Zay told Telex that there had been no breakthrough regarding the seventh caucus, but that they were now clear on each other’s position on the matter. In any case, he still hopes to reach an agreement on the issue.
[HVG][Photo: Péter Márki-Zay / Instagram]
