The small opposition LMP party should not expect clear political gains from aligning itself with social groupings known to be left oriented, analysts told MTI.
Political analysts of three think-tanks were asked about LMP and the 4K!, Solidarity, Milla and other groups whether they could together create a new pole in Hungarian politics and potentially win mass support from currently undecided voters at the 2014 parliamentary election.
Szazadveg Foundation chief analyst Tamas Lanczi said that since the election system gives better chances to larger political blocs in the general election, opposition forces may feel forced to align and the large proportion of the undecided – close to half of the electorate according to the latest polls – would also prompt the forming of new groupings. But this does not mean that just any of these political groupings would prove long-lasting, Lanczi said.
He said LMP should also take it into consideration that aligning with other groups, even if they have a similar profile, may result in the loss of voter confidence in the party’s self-proclaimed image that it is a serious party that would be able to govern the country.
The opposition Socialists, the second largest party in the polls after ruling Fidesz, are in Lanczi’s view not pressed for seeking an ally, unlike their splinter group DK party led by former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, that make every effort to emerge from isolation.
Chief analyst of Political Capital Attila Juhasz said political cooperation between LMP and the aforementioned other groups clearly exists but he expressed doubt whether these participants could effectively promote a common “vision” and whether they can generate enough money and activists for the election campaign.
Gabor Filippov of the Hungarian Progressive Institute said that the success of potential cooperation depends on whether the participants can indeed find a common programme and those people who would represent this to the voters. Cooperation between LMP and 4K!, Solidarity, the Student Network, Milla and some smaller organisations involved in legal defence is a real possibility but this would not result in the development of a new political formation, only a merger of the civil movements with LMP, he added.
