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Central Europe
April 27, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 13
individual districts, which would have prevented Viktor Orban's party from winning a landslide election for a third straight time and retaining a supermajority in parliament.
During last week's protest, speakers called for
a recount as many irregularities were reported. They also criticised the new electoral system, as present rules were adopted to favour the incum- bent Fidesz party. On Saturday, speakers focused on the need for critical thinkers to actively resist the government's actions.
There is fear Fidesz will use its two-thirds su- permajority to crack down further on NGOs, as
it plans to pass the so-called "Stop Soros" leg- islation in the first days of the spring session scheduled for May 8. The embattled Open Society Foundations of Hungarian-born billionaire philan- thropist George Soros are planning to exit Buda- pest, for Berlin.
Apart from targeting civil society, voters also fear Orban aims to stifle the the independence of the judicial system. There are reports that the Nation- al Judicial Office (OBH), which oversees Hungary's courts and appoints judges, will be taken over by
the Ministry of Justice, thus tightening direct government control.
Hodmezovasarhely mayor blames
opposition parties
The keynote speaker at the event was Peter Marki- Zay, the mayor of Hodmezovasarhely who was recent- ly elected in a stunning by-election victory. Running as an independent candidate backed by all opposition parties, Marky-Zay had been the most vocal advocate of a full-scale and wide-ranging cooperation of opposition parties from the left to the right.
"You are the new opposition, no party has as many members as those who support the protest,” Marky-Zay told the crowd after slamming oppo- sition parties for failing to effectively join forces against Orban.
The Hungarian people deserved an opposition that conceived of a future without “Asian dictators”, he said, referring to Orban's increasing isolation and ties with authoritarian leaders from the East.
Organisers plan another mass demonstration for May 8, the day that the new parliament convenes and the new Fidesz-led government is appointed.
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