VZCZCXRO8450
RR RUEHAG RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHUP #0541/01 0731658
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141658Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8735
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BUDAPEST 000541 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS EUR/NCE MICHELLE LABONTE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PHUM SOCI HU
SUBJECT: HUNGARY'S ELECTIONS:  THAT'S ZALA, FOLKS 
(C-RE6-00145) 
 
REF: STATE 22644 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (U) On a March 9 trip to Nagykanizsa, Zala County, most 
contacts described the local mood as tenuous and uncertain. 
With the election one month away, Emboffs visited this small 
city of 60,000 to meet with a range of local figures:  a 
business executive, a representative from the Roma minority 
self government, an educator, a Lutheran pastor and a FIDESZ 
MP.  This cable continues Embassy's pre-election coverage 
from the provinces in the run-up to the April contest.  See 
also septel for a report from Somogy County, also in the 
country's southwest. 
 
---------- 
Background 
---------- 
 
¶2. (U) Zala County is not rich in votes:  among Hungary's 8.1 
million currently-registered voters, only 239,573 live here 
(2002 figure).  Still, 2002 turnout was both robust and in 
keeping with the national average, with 70.74 percent of 
registered voters casting a ballot in the first round.  A 
mere five of the country's 176 individual-constituency voting 
districts and five party-list constituencies are located in 
Zala County:  Nagykanizsa, Zalaegerszeg, Keszthely on Lake 
Balaton, Lenti on the Slovene border, and Zalaszentgrot. 
(Note:  In Hungary's election system, parliamentary 
candidates may run head-to-head against each other in 
individual constituencies; run on a party's county list, or 
on a party's national list.  Together, the 176 individual 
constituencies, the 210 party-list constituencies in the 
counties and the 58 national party-list slots return 376 
members to Hungary's rather oversized national parliament. 
In Zala County, there will be ten races.)  In the 2002 
parliamentary elections, MSZP candidate Istvan Gondor won in 
Nagykanizsa's individual constituency with 42.12 percent of 
the vote, besting joint FIDESZ-MDF candidate Peter 
Cseresnyes's 36.61 percent.  (Even so, Cseresnyes entered 
Parliament on FIDESZ's county-wide party list.)  Also in the 
2002 race, SZDSZ polled at a healthy 10.09 percent, while the 
far-right Truth and Life Party (MIEP) received a respectable 
7.88 percent.  Of the county's ten parliamentary seats, 
FIDESZ won six (three individual constituencies and three 
party-list), aided by MDF's one (an individual constituency; 
and MSZP took three (the individual constituency in 
Nagykanisza and two party-list slots).  MSZP and SZDSZ also 
control the mayor's office and the city council in the sleepy 
county seat of Nagykanizsa. 
 
--------------------------- 
DKG-East:  A Local Employer 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) While the county's largest private-sector employer is 
General Electric Lighting Hungary, located next to the 
industrial park, DKG-East Oil and Gas Industry Equipment 
Manufactory is a sizeable employer in its own right -- and 
one with local roots.  DKG commercial director Jozsef Bogar 
described the enterprise to Emboffs as healthy and 
forward-looking.  The company now exports some 80 percent of 
its products, mainly to western Europe.  Compared to 
socialist times, when the company employed about 1,800 
workers, today it had jobs for 500 people:  350 blue-collar 
and 150 white-collar.  The company tended to look elsewhere 
for engineers and managers with the requisite skills, said 
Bogar, while local institutes were largely able to meet 
DKG-East's needs for skilled labor -- although there was a 
need for more robust training in computer skills and 
foreign-languages.  (Note:  There is no university in Zala 
County.  Only 45.9 percent of the local population has 
completed high school.)  Within the last few days, Russian 
oil giant Gazprom had sold off its last remaining shares in 
the company as domestic investors picked up the shortfall. 
 
¶4. (U) The commercial director expressed confidence in access 
to future contracts regardless of which party won in April. 
"Not many companies make what we make," he explained.  Bogar 
saw future opportunities for both the company and the county 
in (1) the proposed extension of the M7 highway from its 
current terminus on the south shore of Lake Balaton to the 
Slovene border, (2) Hungary's possible future at the nexus of 
a pipeline system serving the Balkans, and possibly (3) the 
expansion of the local industrial park.  On policy questions, 
the commercial director gave his personal opinion that 
FIDESZ's campaign promise to lower employer social-security 
 
BUDAPEST 00000541  002 OF 004 
 
 
contributions from 29 to 19 percent was not feasible, however 
convenient business might find it.  Bogar added that, as an 
exporter, DKG benefited from a weaker forint.  As for the 
future, our host was encouraging his own children's interest 
in banking and economics ("they can make money there"), along 
with foreign languages, although he could muster only 
forbearance for his youngest child's penchant for Latin. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Minority Report:  Nagykanizsa's Roma 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (U) Opportunities were fewer, however, for the Roma in 
Nagykanizsa, who form some seven percent or more of the 
population.  Like the many other Roma minority 
self-governments (MSGs) nationwide, Nagykanizsa's faces an 
uphill battle in representing the community's interests. 
Nonetheless, this MSG is more effective than most.  In the 
Office of the Prime Minister, State Secretary for Roma 
Affairs Laszlo Teleki is a favorite son to Nagykanizsa's 
Roma.  Teleki retains his local position as MSG president, 
which helps to attract foreign investment and other support, 
according to MSG vice-president Mrs. Istvan Varadi.  Varadi 
detailed for Emboffs a range of constructive joint programs 
with the city council, including (1) the use of educational 
materials on Roma concerns in local schools, and (2) MSG 
liaison work between the Roma community and local police. 
Mrs. Varadi also showed Emboffs a 2001 Dutch-sponsored study 
of several Hungarian Roma communities, which found that 61.3 
percent of Nagykanizsa's Roma voted "regularly," and an 
additional 18 percent did so "occasionally."  (Note:  By 
comparison, across the five Roma communities surveyed, the 
average proportion of self-described regular voters was 52 
percent.  Popular belief has it that Roma generally do not 
vote, although the study cites local notary records that 
confirm otherwise.)  Today, Varadi described the key concerns 
of Roma in Nagykanizsa as educational access and low wages, 
adding that the Roma's situation in her locality is better 
than it is nationally.  (Note:  City-wide, 93.2 percent of 
Nagykanizsa residents have completed eight grades of 
schooling; among Roma, the figure is 44.2 percent.  With 
lower skills come lower wages.)  Segregation remains a 
reality, said Varadi, the result of both new housing programs 
for the poor and the legacy of the 1970s and 1980s.  When 
asked whether politicians were courting the Roma vote in the 
current campaign, the vice-president replied somewhat 
dismissively, "oh yes, they come around every four years." 
(Comment:  Such a profile suggests that Nagykanizsa's Roma 
voters will focus exclusively on local concerns at the ballot 
box.) 
 
----------------------------------------- 
A Voice from the Right:  Values, Emotions 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) A meeting with Laszlo Balogh, vice-principal of the 
Lajos Batthyany Gymnasium, turned unexpectedly into a 
discussion of the dual-citizenship issue.  (Note:  Having 
supported the December 2004 dual-citizenship referendum, 
FIDESZ has quietly moved Trianon legacy issues to the back 
burner.)  Born in Uzhgorod --once in Hungary, then 
Czechoslovakia, then Hungary again and today in Ukraine-- 
Balogh recalled his initial sense of inferiority as a 
Hungarian from abroad, although he was now "proud" to be a 
Nagykanizsan.  Among colleagues and friends, he stated that 
he felt it "out of place" to raise the issue of Hungarians 
abroad, and found locals unreceptive to the topic.  "People 
care more about what kind of car they drive," he sighed. 
"There's no theater here" or other cultural scene.  (Comment: 
 Balogh's experience seems to confirm that legacy issues 
retain little relevance for most voters.)  Even so, Balogh 
expressed dissatisfaction with the current government's 
"national visa" for ethnic Hungarians, introduced in January 
¶2006.  (Note:  Technically, the national visa is for those 
interested in Hungarian culture.)  Instead, he insisted, the 
only way to embrace the wider ethnic Hungarian community was 
through some form of dual "citizenship," although such 
citizenship need not involve voting or paying taxes. 
 
¶7. (U) Asked what issues did concern families in Nagykanizsa, 
Balogh pointed to "unemployment."  When Emboffs noted that 
the official local unemployment rate of 6.52 percent (October 
2005 figure) was below the national average and compared 
favorably with rates in neighboring countries, our host 
described the sense of "uncertainty" that had persisted since 
the closures of the local glass and furniture factories, with 
the local industrial park opening only around 2000.  As an 
educator and a supporter of the right, Balogh repeatedly 
expressed his dislike for SZDSZ Education Minister Balint 
 
BUDAPEST 00000541  003 OF 004 
 
 
Magyar, arguing that a "five-percent" party should not be 
made responsible for the education of "100 percent" of 
citizens.  At the meeting's close, he identified himself as a 
Calvinist and a supporter of the Gideon Society.  (Comment: 
Balogh's argumentation --on dual citizenship, unemployment, 
and the liberal SZDSZ party-- is visceral rather than 
rationalist.  As post has reported previously, FIDESZ-allied 
KDNP has vigorously attacked SZDSZ on "values" issues.) 
 
-------------------------- 
Cleric:  A Dwindling Flock 
-------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Lutheran pastors David Deme and Katalin 
Deme-Smideliusz, a married couple, represent the modest 
parish of Nagykanizsa-Szepetneki.  Its members tend to be 
older, there are few baptisms, and the congregation is 
steadily dwindling.  The pair characterized Nagykanizsa's 
economic transition as "slower" and less dramatic than 
Budapest's.  As advertisements fed "desire" under the new 
economic order, said Deme, pocketbooks could not keep pace. 
People were burdened by a sense of "uncertainty," he added, 
stemming from the issues of job security and low pay.  (Note: 
 According to official figures, average monthly wages for 
Zala County's manual laborers and white-collar workers are 
HUF 93,329 (USD 444) and HUF 177,217 (USD 844), respectively. 
 These figures do not include unreported income.)  Yet the 
situation today is "much better" than in the 1950s, he 
emphasized.  (Note:  A hardline Stalinist, Hungarian 
communist prime minister Matyas Rakosi brought heavy 
industrialization, show trials and political repression to 
Hungary in the 1950s.)  "People's way of thinking can't 
change in 10 or 15 years," he continued.  It will require "at 
least" one or two generations for people to be "more open to 
each other."  Asked about Nagykanizsa's Roma community, 
however, Deme eschewed discrimination but argued that Roma 
should at least keep their houses in order.  They needed to 
learn skills such as languages, and apply themselves in 
school, he added.  He allowed that churches could contribute 
to the Roma's social integration by staging "conferences." 
For Zala overall, the way forward, said Deme, lay through 
greater regional cooperation.  Deme-Smideliusz candidly 
expressed her support for FIDESZ as the party that best 
represented her values, and she actively admonished others to 
vote accordingly.  She added that the local FIDESZ party 
organization had sought her husband's support in a previous 
campaign, but he had declined. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
FIDESZ MP Sees Insecurity Locally, Nationally, Bilaterally 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Local FIDESZ MP Peter Cseresnyes, who doubles as the 
head of the minority FIDESZ-MDF-MKDSZ faction on the city 
council, also pointed to "unemployment" as an important voter 
concern in Zala County, adding that take-home pay was low and 
past job losses had led to "nervousness" among workers.  Like 
DKG-East commercial director Laszlo Bogar (see paragraphs 3 
and 4 above), saw the situation as unfavorable for small- and 
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).  He expressed regret over 
the FIDESZ-MDF split on the national level, saying he thought 
it "unnatural," given that MDF was also a right-wing party. 
There was no such split on the local level, he told Emboffs. 
He categorically excluded any possibility of cooperation with 
either MIEP or Jobbik, both far-right parties.  On foreign 
policy, Cseresnyes described himself to Emboffs as pro-U.S., 
although "others" in the party were less so.  The U.S. was a 
close ally, he explained, and while it was a key FIDESZ 
position to support that alliance, "Hungarian interests 
should also be upheld, and we hope the U.S. can accept that." 
 The U.S. "listened to the wrong people sometimes" in its 
consultations with Hungary, he charged, and 
"misunderstandings" had resulted from "business deals." 
(Comment:  Cseresnyes appears to be referring to then-PM 
Orban's 2001 decision to lease Gripen fighters.)  (Note: 
Cseresnyes is a first-time MP in the current Parliament, 
serving as a rank-and-file member of the Youth and Sports 
Committee.  As an MP, he has also turned his attention to the 
problem of drug use.) 
 
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Comment 
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¶10. (SBU) The prevailing malaise in Zala County is probably 
most characteristic of Hungary's older workers displaced by 
factory closures.  Low rates of secondary education, combined 
with systemic factors such as the regulatory regime, labor 
practices, undercapitalization for SMEs, and other, mutually 
 
BUDAPEST 00000541  004 OF 004 
 
 
intensifying problems may also contribute to that mood. 
Whatever local and national statistics say, "unemployment" 
will be a concern in this election, as confirmed by a recent 
Eurobarometer poll.  As elsewhere in Hungary and the region, 
most citizens are wary of polarized discussions on politics, 
partly a legacy of communism.  Although a recent Tarki study 
found that most Hungarians were, in fact, living better than 
four years ago, prosperity is still around the corner from 
most in insular Nagykanizsa. 
 
¶11. (U) Visit U.S. Embassy Budapest's classified website: 
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/budapest/index.cfm 
REEKER