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Botka resigns as Socialist PM candidate, Ujhelyi resigns as Socialist Party’s deputy leader – UPDATE
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László Botka has resigned as the Socialist Party’s candidate for prime minister, he told MTI on Monday.
Botka said he had informed the party’s leaders as well as its allies that had backed his candidacy of his decision.
Explaining the reason for the withdrawal of his candidacy, the Szeged mayor said
he had “made a mistake”, because he did not think “that the democratic parties do not want to win in 2018” but rather “aim to win some opposition seats in the Orbán regime’s parliament”.
Botka said that he had also misjudged “how badly the political mafia has infested the democratic opposition”, adding that
he had also “underestimated Fidesz’s vileness”.
He noted that last week he had put forward a proposal to the six “democratic opposition parties” concerning a joint party list for the election. Under the proposal, the Socialist Party would have offered half of the places on its party list to be distributed among leftist opposition parties LMP, the Democratic Coalition (DK), Dialogue, Egyutt, Momentum and the Liberals.
“Unfortunately this alliance has not received the backing necessary to bring about a change in government,” he said.
He noted that both LMP and DK had announced last week their intention to set up their own election lists.
By contesting the election alone, these parties “will only succeed in further fragmenting the democratic side”, Botka insisted. This would either entice those who want a change in government to stay home on election day, or drive them to Jobbik, he added.
Botka noted that last December he had announced a new political strategy based on a joint opposition election campaign.
“In spite of the overwhelming support from congressional delegates, the hope shared by leftist sympathisers, the last four months were filled with public attacks on my policy of unity from within my party,” Botka said. “I had to battle the opponent to be defeated in the election even within my own party.”
The Szeged mayor conceded that his plan to unify the opposition around a joint election programme and to create an alliance capable of governing had failed. He added that he would take responsibility for this.
“I served the democratic voters to the best of my ability and with all my heart. I consider the opposition parties’ behaviour a historic crime,” he said.
“I believe in the millions who want change,” Botka said.
“I could not lead them to victory, I could not create a unified opposition, although this is still what I believe in. But if someone else succeeded on this front, I would support them,” he added.
As we wrote, leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) is setting up its own election list for the 2018 elections but wants to coordinate with opposition parties on individual constituency candidates, the party told on Saturday.
Also we wrote on Saturday, Bernadett Szél, the co-leader of green opposition party LMP (Lehet Más a Politika – Politics Can Be Different) was beiing nominated as candidate for prime minister for the 2018 election.
UPDATE
Ujhelyi resigns as Socialist Party’s deputy leader
István Ujhelyi has resigned as the Socialist Party’s deputy leader, he told MTI on Monday.
Explaining the reason for his resignation, Ujhelyi said that although he still “desires change”, he could no longer take responsibility for the Socialist Party’s future or its performance in the 2018 general election.
“I cannot get behind the notion that the Socialist Party’s internal affairs and policies can be influenced or obstructed by outside dealings,” Ujhelyi said in a statement.
Ujhelyi said that “what goes on among the democratic parties is humiliating and personally unacceptable”.
The “Orbán regime has sneaked into the opposition lines and has agents in almost all potent movements,”
the statement said. “It seems that the coup supported by dirty tricks of the powerful has succeeded and the democratic forces are fragmented and broken for good,” Ujhelyi said.
Ujhelyi noted that he has been a Socialist party member for 24 years, and proud to have worked with politicians like [former prime minister] Gyula Horn and [former party leader] Ildiko Lendvai. He asked for the voters’ pardon and forgiveness for stepping down, “but I cannot take responsibility and cannot take a part in what lies ahead”, he said.