DK says Orban will use threat of terrorism to ‘seize total power’

Budapest (MTI) – The leftist opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) party said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Viktor Orban will use the threat of terrorism to amend the constitution and in the process “seize total power”.

The government has proposed amending the constitution to include a so-called “state of terrorist threat” among instances that mandate the mobilisation and, if need be, the domestic deployment of the armed forces.

DK spokesman Zsolt Greczy told a press conference that the planned amendment to the constitution would allow the government to ban certain opposition media outlets, crack down on rights organisations, “break into people’s homes” or postpone elections. He said the government’s proposal is not actually about managing terrorist threats but rather about gaining more power.

“It is pretty much only Viktor Orban’s imagination that can limit the government’s power,” Greczy said. He said anyone approving the amendment is “contributing to the destruction of the final pillar of democracy” in Hungary, adding that DK considers it “unacceptable” that the Socialist Party has not ruled out supporting the amendment.

Meanwhile, Greczy said DK would not take part in electing the new members of the Constitutional Court and expressed hope that other parties of the “democratic opposition” would follow their example.

In response, ruling Fidesz accused DK of “siding with migrants and terrorists”. Parties of Hungary’s left “still have their eyes shut and seek to allow migrants in, while European citizens are killed in terror attacks”, Fidesz said in a statement, and insisted that the whole of Europe is threatened by terrorism due to immigration.

Fidesz supports the government’s initiative to amend the constitution, the statement added.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters