Analyst: Jobbik wants to mobilise base with appeal for donations

The cash-strapped Jobbik party has launched a crowdfunding appeal with the hope of mobilising its base, political scientist Zoltán Kiszelly told public television. 

The opoosition party’s leader, Gábor Vona, has announced that Jobbik is launching a community fundraiser and has made an appeal for international public support after Hungary’s state audit office (ÁSZ) issued a report indicating that the party would have to pay a 660 million forint (2.1 million euros) fine for alleged party financing violations.

In the spring, Jobbik ran an anti-government poster campaign. The audit office conducted a financial investigation of the campaign, determining that Jobbik had received a sweetheart deal worth some 330 million forints in violation of the rules in force. It ordered the party to pay a penalty of double this amount.

Kiszelly said the regulation enforced by the authorities in the Jobbik case had been on the statue book for a long time but it was questionable as to whether it had been effectively enforced up to this point.