Hungarian opposition: There won’t be a new government without the left
Hungary will not see a change of government or a new parliament without the left, Klára Dobrev, a candidate to lead the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK), said on Sunday, arguing that “leftists cannot be excluded from the nation”.
Dobrev, who on Thursday announced former party leader Ferenc Gyurcsány’s resignation and retirement from public life, as well as their divorce, said in a video on Facebook that she had just been through “the most difficult period and decision” of her life, but because of her children and community she had never felt as strong as now.
She said the changes ahead of her were not just personal, but also political in nature, because her party was preparing to embark on “a new era of the Hungarian left and in Hungary’s history”.
Dobrev underscored the need for diversity in politics, saying that the paths proposed by “the ruling and opposition right” came with “autocracy”. She said her positions differed from those of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on every issue, and she also had many disagreements with Tisza Party leader Peter Magyar.
“And on the right, the competition is about who is the loudest instead of concerning themselves with people’s real problems,” she insisted. Dobrev said she wanted to listen to the people because the state could not be relied on when people needed help.
She said being a leftist meant “that we don’t accept the injustices in the world because these aren’t eternal laws” but things that could be changed. “Being a leftist also means self-confidence because it’s not enough to believe that change is needed, but we also have to know that we can do it,” she added.
She said it was the job of politicians to make sure that people have high enough pensions, proper housing, “because being a leftist also means that we believe that no one is worthless … just because they are poor, sick, vulnerable or different from the majority in some way”.
Dobrev said she also disagreed with the right about freedom, arguing that she believed “freedom doesn’t mean that the strong can do whatever they want to the weak but that one who is weaker should always come before one who is stronger, and especially before one who is violent.” She added that the state had a duty to support the weak.
She said “millions of Hungarians today feel like losers because they live in a country controlled by a right-wing mentality”, adding that this would not change if the government were to be replaced by only an opposition right-wing party. Dobrev said she would attend the Pride march and that she would have clear messaging when it comes to Ukraine because “it’s in our national interest to have a strong EU member Ukraine between us and Russia.”
“There can be no change of government or new national assembly because leftists cannot be excluded from the nation,” Dobrev said, vowing to work to make the left a “decisive force in shaping a Hungary after Orbán”.
Read more about the Democratic Coalition HERE.
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