Democratic Coalition (Hungary)

Part of the Socialist Party

On October 5, 2010, Ferenc Gyurcsany announced to the party leadership that he was creating a new platform called the Democratic Coalition, which would become a wide and open society for those who shared the ideals of the revolutionary events of 1989. A number of party representatives were unhappy with such an initiative by Gyurcsany ^[4] . The first meeting of the Democratic Coalition took place on October 22, 2010 at 14:00 in St. Stephen's Park in the 13th district of Budapest. The deputy chairman of the Socialist Party, Andras Balog, in an interview with Népszava , stated that the party had failed in the elections due to errors of the Gyurcsany cabinet and was generally decomposed due to corruption ^[5] .

In May 2011, the platforms of the Hungarian Socialist Party held a debate about whether the party should continue to cooperate with the left parties or compromise with the centrists and the right to create an alternative to the ruling Fides . The second idea was supported only by the Democratic Coalition, all the others supported the position of their leader Istvan Hiller . Hiller criticized Gyurcsany’s idea of ​​an alliance of liberals with conservatives, calling it subversive for the party ^[6] .

Single Party

On October 22, 2011, Gyurcsany announced his resignation from the party and the creation of a pro-Western left movement. He explained that the socialists did not transform themselves, as a result of which he left the Hungarian Socialist Party and gathered his party. He recognized the new constitution as illegitimate and stated that the entire Hungarian government and court are subordinate only to Viktor Orban ^[7] . The party he created was called the Democratic Coalition, and Ferenc Gyurcsany became its leader on November 6, 2011 ^[8] . At a press conference, he appointed Tamas Bauer , Jozsef Debreceni , Chub Molnar and Peter Niedermüller as his deputies, promising to officially nominate all candidates at party congresses and maintain equality among party members. 3800 applications for membership were submitted to the new party ^[9] .

On November 7, 2011, the Democratic Coalition was banned from forming factions in the Hungarian Parliament until the spring of 2012, recognizing MPs from the coalition in the Hungarian Parliament as independent. To join the faction, they had to wait at least six months ^[10] . But in April 2012, the Fides party completely banned the formation of the parliamentary group of the Democratic Coalition, saying that it can only be formed by those who passed the party list in previous elections. Gyurcsany said that Orban had recouped it on him, and Chaba Molnar threatened to complain to European courts ^[11] .

Collaboration

In September 2013, the Hungarian Socialist Party refused to sign a cooperation agreement with the Democratic Coalition of Ferenc Gyurcsany and the Hungarian Liberal Party Gabor Fodor as populists. Attila Meshterhazy said in an interview with ATV that the socialists will have to win over the undecided voters, and cooperation with Gyurcsany will push them away from the support of the socialists. Gyurcsany, in turn, said that the Hungarian Socialist Party agreed to cooperate with the Democratic Coalition only on 4 points out of 9, which was impossible in principle. Moreover, the Democratic coalition was granted only 4% of the seats on the election list, banning Gyurcsany from being elected at all, and was not allowed to create his own platform. Gyurcsany stated that the party did not accept such restrictions ^[12] .

On January 14, 2014, opposition left-centrist parties drafted a general election list for participation in the 2014 parliamentary elections. The list included the leader of the Hungarian socialists Attila Meshterhazy, who was about to become prime minister, then Gordon Bainai ( Together 2014 ) and Ferenc Gyurcsany, the third on the list. The fourth was taken by liberal Gabor Fodor, and the fifth by Timea Szabo ( Dialogue for Hungary ). The 56th and 58th places were received by representatives of the Liberal Party of Hungary ^[13] . Antal Rogan, chairman of the Fides parliamentary faction, was skeptical about this, saying that the opposition did not offer a clear alternative or some new face ^[14] . In the 2014 European Parliament election, the Democratic Coalition received 9.76% of the vote and delegated two people. ^[15] On May 26, 2014, Molnar announced that the party had submitted an application to join the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats ^[16] .

• Official Website (Hungarian)