The Economist discusses the plight of Hungary’s opposition

Hungary is Viktor Orban’s playground. He has ruled it with an iron rod since 2010, reports The Economist. But theoretically, after the big loss of power in the capital and ten of the 23 other county-level cities in the country, he should be scared. The main reason why the opposition won was mostly that the perennially fractured opposition for once managed to unite and form a coalition settling on one contender instead of each having their own.

Now if the opposition continues with the same pattern, the ruling party might lose its majority in the country, along with the privilege to rule the country. To be fair, the New Year Speech by the current Prime Minister was very bland consisting of mundane issues, such as education, health, etc., instead of his usual rant about the enemies within and outside.

However, those plans are highly subjective and based mostly on optimism. Deciding on a Prime Minister is majorly different from choosing a mayor, and electing mayors for a few constituencies is in itself much changed from picking the same for each of the country’s 106 single-member constituencies, as well as drawing up a joint party list for the 93 proportionally elected MPs. If the opposition parties decide on different lists, then Fidesz has the election in the bag. The hardest choice will probably be about who to pick as prospective Prime Minister.

There are some serious contenders; a top tier prospect could be the Mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karacsony. But Mr Orban is already tying him in knots, linking money for the city to the construction of a new stadium for the World Athletics Championships in 2023, which the mayor said on the campaign trail that he did not want to build. Moreover, he insists that he does not want the job and would much rather focus on the job he already has. His party is not big outside the capital.