Youth organizations embrace political infighting

They say that if you put two Hungarians in a room together, they will form three political parties. This looks like being a handy truism for some time to come. A new conservative youth organization linked to opposition party MDF, itself a fractious party with support polling perilously below the 5% parliamentary threshold, has formed with the aim of “pro-actively participating in an urgently needed change to the conservative perspective and direction.” No, we’re not sure what that means either – and confusion also exists within MDF ranks. According to Index.hu, the Ifjúsági Konzervatív Unió – “Conservative Youth Union” or simply IQ, was most likely formed as a result of poor relations between the MDF and its existing youth organization, the Ifjúsági Demokrata Fórum (Democratic Youth Forum). István Horváth, chairman of the new organization believes that young people want a change of direction both within the MDF and in Hungary’s public life. Well, duh. In response to the news, the IDF insisted that the MDF only has one youth organization and cynically suggested the IQ take up the name Ultra Ibolya Akció Csoport – “Ultraviolet Action Group,” where “violet” is a translation of MDF chair Dávid Ibolya’s surname. Yawn.