Socialist party leader vows to ‘carry on with characteristic politics’

Socialist Party (MSZP) leader Gyula Molnár on Monday vowed to continue the party’s “forceful political line” after deputy leader István Ujhelyi and PM candidate László Botka’s resignations.

As we wrote today morning, László Botka has resigned as the Socialist Party’s candidate for prime minister, and István Ujhelyi has also resigned as the Socialist Party’s deputy leader.

Molnár thanked Botka for “fighting” so far.

“We lost this battle but will win the war,”

Molnár told a press conference, referring to the Szeged mayor’s resignation from the top of the Socialist election list.

The party’s priority now is to coordinate the individual constituencies rather than finding another PM candidate, Molnár said.

The political scene is “not yet ready” for a characteristic Socialist politician to lead the democratic opposition, he said.

He said the Socialists would not abandon their voters and vowed to “show an alternative to the unsatisfied millions”.

Botka’s resignation also gives the party a chance to “return to the 700,000-800,000 voters supporting us”, he said.