Rise of Anti-Semitic Party Darkens Hungary’s Elections
On March 15th, tens of thousands of people filled the streets of Hungary’s beautiful capital Budapest, ostensibly to celebrate the 162nd anniversary of the 1848-1948 revolution and war of independence. Among the many events commemorating this anniversary across city, a multitudinous political rally for the far-right party Jobbik garnered the most attention, as restless young supporters showed up sporting Hitler-like mustaches and army fatigues to hear the party leader Gábor Vona threaten retribution against corrupt lawmakers and “gypsy criminality.” With a parliamentary election coming up on April 11th, this increasingly popular nationalist party is sending a shock through minority communities in Hungary.
Some observers say we shouldn’t worry about Jobbik. The party is making an effort to portray itself as a normal, mainstream conservative party, but this thought disappears whenever Vona speaks in public: one of his favorite refrains is that “Hungary is for Hungarians,” and that the country must be stoutly defended from outside “foreign speculators,” often pointing to some imagined evil agenda of Israel in Central Europe. He has drawn up a long list of enemies (including the United States), and said he would shut down several television stations once in power. Given that the party is linked with the violent paramilitary brigade “Magyar Gárda,” which was banned last summer, these promises of violence are not just idle talk.
So there is a potentially threatening anti-Semitic political sentiment rising once again in Hungary, what else is new? Well it seems that this time things are different, as Jobbik is feared to headed toward winning as much as 20% of the vote in the upcoming April elections, giving them a significantly powerful block in parliament capable of great damage.
Considering the widespread alarm recently displayed following Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front party comeback in France which netted less than 12% of the national vote across all regions, we are looking at a situation which could be twice as bad in terms of seats – with Jobbik’s militaristic rhetoric and hate speech several notches above Le Pen’s brand of anti-immigrant xenophobia.