Steven N.
Saturday, February 26 is the deadline for parties to submit their national list of candidates, but the opposition alliance United for Hungary has not yet agreed on how to fill the top spots for its list, reports ATV. In essence, some points of difference appear similar to when the news station reported on the topic nearly two weeks ago.
The debate is primarily over one, or possibly two places on the list. Sources tell ATV that the differences of opinion are between close allies MSZP and Dialogue on one side, and DK, Jobbik, Momentum, and LMP on the other, and whether MSZP and Dialogue should jointly have eight, nine, or even ten leading spots on the opposition’s joint list.
The parties have also not decided on whether ethnic Roma candidates should be included in each party’s quota of candidates either.
According to ATV, the current standing for each party with regards to the top 45 places on the list, viewed as the most likely to win parliamentary mandates based on current polls, is the following:
- 14 spots for DK (or 13 if it helps LMP out)
- 12 for Jobbik (including a Roma politician)
- 8 for Momentum (including a Roma politician)
- 8 or 9 for MSZP-Dialogue (but the Roma politician that Dialogue wants to include are not in every scenario)
- 3 for LMP, but if they only win one individual electoral district, they will get an extra spot from DK
The other issue that appears to be dividing the allies is the fact that MSZP-Dialogue performed significantly better in the primary elections than the combined support of the two parties in the opposition, as measured by public opinion polls.
The major sticking point is which measurement should be considered as the basis for allocating top spots on the list for them. Naturally, MSZP-Dialogue politicians would prefer to use their showing in the primaries as the basis for determining their strength in the coalition.
But the article writes that Momentum has been saying for weeks that each party’s level of national support should determine the number of spots it gets and how the list is composed. DK, Jobbik, and LMP have also agreed with this view.
Based on national polling averages, Momentum and MSZP-Dialogue would theoretically receive the same number of places within the top 45 names on the list. [HVG]
