Csáó, MSZP!

Hungarians bid adieu to the Socialists, who essentially drove the country into the ground over the last eight years. That said, no one knows yet how far into Middle Earth Hungary will be after the next eight years under Fidesz-Jobbik. Még lattjük!

Mi lesz?

It is 2 am, and the polls were supposed to close seven hours ago. The OVB (Orszagos Valasztasi Bizottsag) 'decided' to keep 'certain' polling stations 'open' past the closing time. However, it hasn't exactly been made clear which ones, nor has it been announced exactly why. Someone mumbled something about staying open for 'those voting outside of their normal polling places.' Something is rotten in the state of...

Send us your poor, your elderly...as long as they are registered voters

In American political circles, soccer moms, security moms, and hockey moms are the desired demografics. In Hungarian political circles, pensioners are the holy grail of politicians.

'Pensioners,' a combination of retirees and workers on permanent disability (there are a lot more of the latter than you would assume...), are similar to American Senior Citizens in their high voter participation habits and loyal allegiance to one party. For the last twenty years, or since the fall of Communism, their allegiance has remained with the Socialist Party (MSzP). The same politicians who were mid-level party bosses under Communism are now in charge of the Socialist Party, and they have been in power for the last six years.

The last six years have not been kind on the Hungarian populace. The Socialists ran the budding free market economy into the ground, and then lied about it. A $27 billion bailout was required, but still, the Socialists were kept in office. At this point, with Hungarian arch-rival Slovakia already on the Euro, Hungarians are starting to wake-up and realize that they are no longer the poster child for post-Communist states.

Hence, the Socialists, as I mentioned previously, are about to completely lose power. The one thing that could prevent this? A massive turnout of pensioners voting in favor of the Socialists. And how to ensure this happens? Thinly veiled threats, like the one above. A picture of a traditional sheepskin cap representing a male pensioner and a scarf for a female pensioner with the headline "We will guarantee the safety of the monthly pensioner's check." It continues

The world economic crisis drastically reduced state revenues. So that the pensioner's monthly check does not come into danger, the New Socialist government has assured the check has a solid base. We introduced a new premium on January 1st, which has increased monthly checks an average of 4.1%, and we will continue to make cost of living corrections to the program, too. The political left will not allow the needy elderly's subsistence to come into danger, even in times of crisis.

And if you vote for the other side, good riddance and good luck.

The Hungarian Election is rapidly approaching. Though the Fidesz Party is expected to easily win - perhaps even with a two thirds super-majority - the campaign period up to the election will nonetheless be a bloodbath. Hungarians will shed their apathetic masks just long enough to sling sh*t at each other for two months (sorry to swear, but there is no better description).

As with any campaign, massive amounts of money is spent on advertisements. The first of these started appearing after the holiday season. MSzP (the Magyar Szocialista Párt), the party currently in power, has been running a series of baseball-card-style ads in which they show a portrait style photo of a politician (or two, or three), their name, and the party emblem all in front of a red, white and green striped background (the flag of Hungary - essentially an Italian flag turned horizontal). The design is quite simple and makes no mention of any platform or role the politician on display might hold, not even the word 'szocialista' is written out.

I took the above photograph a few weeks ago, after a few days of snow had left a quiet blanket over the city. It was still early in the election season (Hungary does not have a long, drawn out, eighteen month marathon but a quick, bloody six week battle), but Hungarians were still making sure their opinion was seen, and not heard. You may notice that the faces in the billboard above are pocked with snowballs.

Today I returned to the scene on my way to work (actually, I return almost every weekday). The snow has melted, but bright yellow paint was left in its place. Along the mens' chests, someone had spray-painted "HÁZA ÁRULÓK" - 'national traitors,' or more literally 'traitors of their own home.' By the time I walked home, the political advertisement was gone, an advert for Aldi's weekly special on chicken meat in its place.