Two Ousted LMP Politicians Will Run on Their Own in Election

Opposition party LMP faced some upheaval in its ranks this week, as the green party lost two of its members in different parts of the country. Both politicians vowed to run on their own in the election, without party backing.

“I am Running as an Independent Candidate”

Following the events of the last few days, I have decided after 13 years to leave LMP and run in the elections as a candidate for Parliament… …One thing is for sure: there is no credible political force left anymore. Both sides are driven solely by their own interests, which is why I am running as an independent candidate.

-wrote Mária Hajdu on her official social media page yesterday. The ex-LMP member put up the post after her party initiated disciplinary proceedings against her and suspended her membership.

The politician from Budapest’s Hegyvidék district says that the sanctions resulted from a previous post of hers the day before, in which she expressed doubt about the united opposition’s joint candidate in the district, Miklós Hajnal. The Momentum politician, Hajdu said, “had been lying about his qualifications for months.”

Miklós Hajnal has been a frequent target in the government-aligned media recently for calling himself an economist despite reportedly not having fully completed his degree requirements.

In her post on the suspension from LMP, Hajdu also leveled criticism at the opposition, including LMP, for advocating for Hajnal, who is “much less committed to the affairs of Hegyvidék” than Gábor Vadász, another Momentum member.

LMP’s press department responded to the events with the following statement:

Mária Hajdu’s outrage was hypocritical. Obviously she knew exactly that her statement would be a provocation that would have consequences. LMP has chosen to support candidates in the joint opposition, and those who subsequently formed an opposing view after this decision can clearly not be a member of its political community.

[444][Photo: Mária Hajdu / Facebook]

Another LMP Member Decides to Go It Alone

Meanwhile, on the same day that LMP suspended Hajdu’s party membership, Lajos Takács, the party’s municipal representative in Badacsonytomaj, announced on Thursday afternoon that he would also be running in Veszprém County’s 3rd District, where Lajos Rig is the designated joint candidate for the united opposition.

Takács justified not running in the primary election last fall by telling Telex:

I didn’t feel like I needed to take part. I didn’t even know how many candidates there would be or who would be running.

LMP told the site that Takács had clearly gone against the wishes of the party with this move, and that he was no longer an LMP member either. The green party also asked its voters “not to fall for people suddenly finding their political clarity just a few hours before signature gathering is to begin, and to support the primary winners in every district with their vote.”

Fidesz’s official nominee in the district is Tibor Navracsics. [444]