The Hungarian political press and politicians have turned their attention beyond the nation’s borders this week as representatives of ethnic Hungarians in Romania warm up for the European Parliamentary elections this Sunday. Opposition leader Viktor Orbán is currently making a tour of Transylvania to promote László Tőkés, the priest who provided the spark for the 1989 revolution and is running as an independent candidate. The Fidesz Chairman told a crowd of ethnic Hungarians in Székelyudvarhely (Odorheiu Secuiesc, Romania) that, “In the Carpathian basin, every Hungarian affair is a shared affair,” in response to accusations that it was wrong for him to “interfere” with politics outside Hungary’s borders.
According to right-wing daily Magyar Nemzet, Orbán also said that it was “perverted and provincial” to talk about interference in relation to European Parliamentary elections, when in Brussels, members of parliament are making decisions that affect the whole of Europe. Transylvania, and Székelyföld (Székely Land) in particular, is of great symbolic significance to Hungarians as the birthplace of a great many celebrated cultural figures and customs, so it comes as no surprise that Orbán should attempt to make political capital out of the elections.
Orbán added that “Hungarians living in the small Hungary” have given up and accepted the current bad living conditions, corruption, bureaucracy and lies. “This is why they need good news from Székelyföld, that Hungarians living there have not given up.” He urged the Székelys to “dare to be Hungarian” adding that they needed a spokesperson in Brussels who is above party bickering and represents the higher cause of national unity. Tőkés agreed that Hungarians living in Hungary gain strength from Székelyföld and stressed that it should fight for its autonomy.
His main rival is the Hungarian Democratic Alliance of Romania (RMDSZ), the junior governing coalition member of which Tőkés is still a member. Both are expected to be disadvantaged by a referendum running in parallel to the EU elections. According to FigyelőNet, the referendum on electoral districts is likely to draw more voters to the polls, reducing the party’s representation below the 5% threshold. (As a As an independent candidate, Tőkés only needs 2.85 percent. While EU regulations do not allow the European Parliamentary elections be combined with any other voting, the Romanian government rushed through regulations on Tuesday allowing voting on the same date but in separate rooms and on separate voting slips.
It is in the interest of ethnic Hungarians that there is a low turnout at the ballots, and that Transylvanians are overrepresented, Zoltán Kántor, an associate of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs (MKI) told the news portal. He said that in Romania, as in most European countries, turnout is usually very low for European Parliamentary elections, but that Romanians would be encouraged to vote by the referendum.
