Prime minister candidate of the ruling Socialist Party Attila Mesterhazy started a tour of the country in Polgar (E) on Saturday.
The candidate met supporters in the local community centre and said that the next elections would determine Hungary’s dominant tendencies in the “next four-eight-twelve” years.
Mesterhazy said earlier in the day that he would meet voters in more than 100 towns and cities before the first round of the general elections set for April 11.
The Socialist Party upholds its invitation for the main opposition Fidesz to publicly debate actual policy questions before the election; voters need to know what plans each candidate has in store to resolve concrete issues, Mesterhazy said. He added that Fidesz head Viktor Orban “will not manage to avoid” a public discussion.
Why is it that the party that is always least likely to take home the gold always wanting to debate, and the party that is most likely to win, more than keen on avoiding a discussion at all costs?
Given that Orban has little of a hand in the current mess, I cannot get why he’s not welcoming a challenge from the man bound to lead his party into opposition, if not, obscurity. Orban can easily say that it’s a tough road ahead and sadly it’s due in a big part to the decisions made by those who refused to debate the issues 4 years ago when there was still some room to maneuver.
I just don’t understand the contempt in which the HU political elite holds the populace.
Gotta Pull Myself Together
for Cinaed “Every Little Bit Hurts”
@ Rolrox
Don’t know the answer but would like to guess and tell me if what I think is a possibility
Orban is leading the polls and is expected to win by a 2/3rd majority. What would he gain by “debating” ? Maybe he is not looking for a challenge – just wants the high number of votes.
If as you said the Socialists are the “least likely to take home the gold” a public debate can’t really hurt them but might actually help them.
Moreover, you cannot deny the fact that some politicians have better debating skills than others.
Unless Hungary is different, politics is nothing but a “sport” ; it’s all about winning and the game is played with “coaches” surrounding the candidate advising him/her to concentrate on getting “the Gold” -
It’s one thing to give clear agendas and it’s quite another to be questioned on it (as in How are you going to deliver one of your promises xxx given that etc etc) which is exactly what’s involved in a debate.
Unless the debated politician can plead the 5th it’s sometimes better to avoid the debate – especially when said politician is poised to win.
Just a thought when I read that Orban is not rushing out there to “debate”
@dave and Cináed:
“Every little bit hurts” was one of the first hits by the Spencer Davis Group with Steve Winwood singing – Steve will do a concert seies this summer with Eric Clapton in Europe (sorry no date in Hungary) and we’ll hear them in Munich …