Visceral party sympathies were forgotten for a moment at the March 9 referendum, indicated by the fact that one million more people than the total who voted for Fidesz in 2006 voted to abolish nominal medical fees and tuition fees, political scientist András Giro-Szász of the Századvég institute told a Thursday gathering.
Speaking at a round-table conversation organized by the conservative 21st Century Institute, he said the coalition parties find themselves in a very difficult situation because their leaders are an excessive burden. To elaborate, he said “let us imagine two sailors in Liverpool who, after a night of drinking, beat each other up and then make up and board a ship, but as the morning fog dissipates they see that the ship they are on is the Titanic”. The trouble with this story, he said, is that voters are also on board.
Zoltán Somogyi, president of the Political Capital Institute, said the coalition tends to come up with decisions that are negative to the average citizen, despite having been in power for many years. He said the referendum has created a pitfall, with no-one knowing what the near future will bring.
All the political scientists agreed that personnel changes in the government can be expected.
