The possibility of early elections in Hungary is increasing by the day and the minority governing Socialists might even be made interested to look into that option, political analysts told MTI on Friday.
The longer the nomination process of a candidate to replace Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany it takes the more it pushes away voters from the Socialists and the liberal Free Democrats, said analyst Samuel Agoston Mraz of Nezopont Institute. Even more voters might turn away from the Socialist party if the candidates it proposes fail because this gives the impression that the party is not strong enough to govern, he said.
Attila Juhasz, analyst of Political Capital, said it would further weaken the Socialists’ support if they had to govern as a caretaking government, adding that the chance is little that the party could set up a crisis-management government which is also supported from the outside. At the same time it has to be taken into consideration that it is in the Socialists’ interest that the main opposition Fidesz should enter power at the latest time possible.
Mraz added that it is also possible to make the Socialists interested in early elections. Many people in the party think that if Fidesz enters government this year, then it will lose much of its popularity by the 2010 local council elections. As a result, the Socialists will not only keep their current positions in local councils but may also acquire new ones. However, if the Socialists suffer defeat at both the general elections and the local council elections next year, then a whole generation of Socialist polticians falls out of power.
